Canberra’s economic recovery from COVID-19 will take time but we have a plan that ensures our city recovers from this once-in-a-lifetime economic shock stronger and more resilient.

We’ve set a target – for there to be 250,000 jobs in Canberra by 2025.

That’s an extra 17,000 jobs for our city, in a time of economic struggle. For context, 5,000 jobs have gone through the pandemic so far.

It’s an ambitious target, but we know it can be done.

The ACT Government has released our Jobs and Economic Recovery Plan alongside the Economic & Fiscal Update.

Our next stage of economic recovery has to go further, and it has to be bigger.

The ACT Government’s plan to support Canberra has to maintain confidence today, tomorrow, and every day over the next decade.

We will reach our target by supporting employment growth in areas such as tertiary education, renewable energy, innovation, arts and defence industries.

Our $4.9 billion recovery plan will allow the Government to protect and creates local jobs now.

Our infrastructure plan will support local jobs and confidence in our construction sector, with a clear pipeline of work over the next decade. This includes:

• more than $1 billion in transport and active travel projects, including over $300 million extending light rail,
• more than $900 million on health care infrastructure including the $624 million Canberra Hospital Expansion,
• more than $400 million to build and upgrade our public schools, and
• $250 - $300 million in building CIT Woden.

We are also halfway through a 10-year, $1 billion program to build new public housing across Canberra.

We have been clear from the very start of this pandemic that we had to do more to ensure that Canberrans didn’t fall through the cracks.

There will be more investment in vital community support programs, additional mental health services and food relief while our city continues to feel the impacts of COVID-19.

The Plan also outlines growth in the ACT Government’s own workforce to ensure that public services are available when Canberrans need them most.

The pandemic isn’t over, and there is more work to do.

But the ACT Labor Government has the right plan to invest in Canberrans and lead our city through the pandemic.