Community groups planning a festival or event next year are encouraged to apply for a grant through the 2011 ACT Festival Fund, which closes at 5pm on Monday 5 July, Chief Minister and Minster for the Arts and Heritage, Jon Stanhope said today.

"The $200,000 Festival Fund is part of the ACT Government's commitment to support an active and creative city, and I encourage organisers to submit an application if their event requires financial support," Mr Stanhope said.

"The fund focuses on festivals and events which encourage community participation and are well-organised and viable.

"We are particularly keen to see a strong connection from applications in this round to our plans for the city's centenary in 2013."

Fifteen events were successful in receiving funding in the 2010 round, including the Canberra International Film Festival, Canberra Fisherman's Club Canberra Carp-out, Tuggeranong Community Art's 2010 Moon Festival and Friends of the Australian National Botanic Gardens Footprint Festival.

Applicants are encouraged to discuss their proposal with staff in the Special Events Unit in the Chief Minister's Department. Appointments are essential by contacting Rebecca Gaukroger on 6205 7141.

Applications must be submitted in hard copy prior to this deadline, and all criteria must be addressed.

For more information on the 2011 Festival Fund, including a 2011 information booklet and application forms, visit www.events.act.gov.au email events@act.gov.au or call 6205 7141.

Media Contact:

Jess Wurf 6205 0504 0411 772 700 jess.wurf@act.gov.au

ACTION is providing special services to this year's Canberra Show from Belconnen, Tuggeranong, Woden and the City on Saturday and Sunday. On Friday ACTION's REDEX service will stop outside Exhibition Park every 15 minutes.

Friday's REDEX and the special services on Saturday and Sunday will be serviced by wheelchair accessible buses. The services are now listed on the ACTION website at http://www.action.act.gov.au/default.html

Please note that in the late evening there is a free shuttle to the City that is hired by the event organiser. This service uses the high capacity articulated buses and is not easy access or wheelchair accessible.

The ACT Government has released for public comment its Discussion Paper, National Capital City to Solar Capital: Options for an expanded ACT Feed-in Tariff Scheme.

The Discussion Paper is available for download here. Alternately to request a hard copy please call (02) 6207 0270 or email DECCEWfeedintariff@act.gov.au.

Media release: Community consultation begins on stage two options for feed-in tariff, Monday 21 December 2009

Written submissions
Written submissions are preferred. Comments may also be provided verbally at private meetings and verbally at public meetings.

Guidelines
The following guidelines apply to written submissions –

There is no fixed format or length for your submission. Email constitutes a valid written submission.

You may use your Submission to convey facts and opinions or to make arguments or recommendations.

You do not need to address all of the Terms of Reference. It would be appreciated if Submissions over 4 pages additionally contain a summary of issues raised in the text.

Submissions should be sent to:

Feed-in Tariff Secretariat
Department of the Environment, Climate Change, Energy and Water
GPO Box 158
Canberra ACT 2601
Or by email to DECCEWfeedintariff@act.gov.au

The Secretariat may also be contacted on telephone 02 6207 0262 or 02 6207 5589. Submissions received will be placed on this website.

Public and Industry Consultation
Public and industry meetings will be held during the consultation period. These will be listed on this website as soon as dates are finalised.

Contact Details
Feed-in Tariff Secretariat
Department of the Environment, Climate Change, Energy and Water
GPO Box 158
Canberra ACT 2601
Telephone: 13 22 81
Email: DECCEWfeedintariff@act.gov.au

Public and industry consultation closes on 28 February 2010.

VACCINATION PROGRAM TARGETS WHOOPING COUGH

ACT Health Minister, Katy Gallagher MLA, said today that the targeted Adult Pertussis (Whooping Cough) Vaccination Program will be extended until the 30th of June 2010.

"The program was implemented in April 2009 as a prudent response to an increase in Whooping Cough notifications in the ACT in late 2008 and early 2009," Ms Gallagher said.

"The program offers free Pertussis vaccine to parents of babies less than 12months of age, and to grandparents who have regular contact," she said.

"Since the beginning of the program nearly 11,000 doses of the vaccine have been distributed to immunisation providers in the ACT and 1,748 new mothers have received the vaccination through hospital maternity units.

"The main objective of the targeted vaccination program is to protect infants who are too young to be fully immunised against whooping cough as they are the most likely to suffer serious complications from the disease. Most babies catch whooping cough from their parents or close care givers, such as grandparents.
"The program was initially set to run as a three month pilot, however, following evaluation, it will now be extended until the middle of next year.

"Parents and grandparents are urged to see their GP to obtain this free vaccine as this will help protect their young babies during a vulnerable time," Ms Gallagher said.

The Minister said data indicated that this program may have already prevented some infants from contracting the disease. Although there had been three cases of Pertussis in infants in the eight months since the targeted vaccination program began, this was a marked decrease from the four children who suffered the disease in the three months prior to its commencement. There had also been a decrease in the incidence of the disease in children less than 10 years of age.

Unlike some diseases, immunity from Pertussis is not transferred by breast feeding. This is also a timely reminder for parents to vaccinate their children at the recommended ages starting when the baby is two months old.

Kathryn Roberts on 6205 0242 or 0402 399 907 or email her at kathryn.roberts@act.gov.au

All key solar industry stakeholders and the broader community are urged to comment on options to potentially extend the scope of the ACT Government's nation leading electricity Feed-In Tariff scheme, Minister for Energy, Simon Corbell said today.

"Stage 1 of the Feed-In Tariff has been an overwhelming success with a 116% increase in the number of solar PV installations since the Scheme was launched in March 2009. The Government projected 90% growth within the first 12 months of the scheme, and community participation has been significantly higher," Mr Corbell said.

"It is now time to look at options to possibly expand the scheme to include larger scale generators in order to further encourage the deployment of clean energy generation."

"The ACT scheme is the only Australian gross feed-in tariff which pays consumers a premium rate to feed back all of their solar generated electricity into the grid. The scheme is currently limited to installations of 30 kW capacity, about 180 standard PV panels."

The Government committed in March 2009 to undertake further community consultation on whether larger scale generators should be allowed to be part of the scheme.

"This discussion paper is the trigger point for that consultation. It outlines the environmental and economic outcomes of possibly extending the tariff," Mr Corbell said.

"The Government is very conscious of any cost burden arising from any increase in electricity tariffs, especially on low income households. The ACT currently provides concession payments to these households to assist with cost increases and the need to provide further assistance is canvassed in this community consultation. Increases in electricity costs as a result of the feed in tariff are small compared to price rises occurring due to more demand in the National Electricity Market and other national policy settings.

"The economic impact of broadening the Feed -In Tariff scheme is explored in detail in this consultation paper. In summary the economic modelling finds significant jobs growth in the short to medium term as a result of the expansion of the Feed-In Tariff. Further analysis indicates that in the long term measures to lock in this jobs growth as a part of a clean economy strategy will be needed."

"The Government is also continuing to investigate the option of legislating to place a mandate on energy companies to provide a suite of energy efficiency programs that would not only reverse greenhouse gas emissions, but also reduce household electricity bills."
The review of the scheme is being conducted by an Inter-Agency Committee chaired by the Department of the Environment, Climate Change, Energy and Water (DECCEW), which administers the existing Feed-in Tariff.

Community consultation sessions are scheduled to be held in February 2010 with exact times and locations to be advertised closer to the time. Formal submissions on the paper close on 28 February, 2010.

Copies of the discussion paper are available to download from the DECCEW website at http://www.environment.act.gov.au/ and at ACT Public Libraries and ACT Government Shopfronts. For further information on the discussion paper, contact DECCEW's Energy Projects team through Canberra Connect on 13 22 81.

Media Contact:
Patrick Cronan
6205 0401
0432 758 224
patrick.cronan@act.gov.au

Public comments are invited on the issue of reducing speed limits around shopping centres and community facilities to 40 km/h.

Have Your Say

A copy of the report is available for download from the link below: or alternatively will be on display throughout the consultation period at Canberra Connect Shopfronts along with ACT Public Libraries.
http://www.tams.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/172384/20091120_R... ( PDF 1.5 Mb)

An online feedback questionnaire on this issue is available on the link below:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=r1iQEREV5Rr1Inpspxx_2fog_3d_3d

Hard copy versions of the questionnaire will be available throughout the consultation period at Canberra Connect Shopfronts along with ACT Public Libraries and is available for download below:
http://www.tams.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/172383/Hardcopy_Q... ( PDF 179 Kb)

Public comment period closes on 18 December 2009

An issues paper has been released that examines the planning rules for buildings such as boarding houses, student accommodation and ‘granny flats’.

The paper - Special residential and non-residential uses in residential zones -seeks feedback from the ACT community and invites comment on possible policy changes.

To View the issues paper, please visit http://www.actpla.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/15922/residenti...

The period for comment closes on Friday 11 December 2009.

The period for comment closes on Friday 11 December 2009.