Cassie Cupcake, Canine Campaigner, has been crunching the numbers for her third very im-paw-tant budget reply. She's gone through the papers to work out what's in it for dogs and dog-lovers across the ACT.
Here's her breakdown of what the year ahead holds for you and your canine contacts...
It is clear that the government is looking out for the meaty matters of schools, hospitals and transport in this year’s budget.
But there are also some treats and tidbits in this budget for canine Canberrans.
When it comes to waste management we messy mutts like to know we’re doo-ing our bit, so it’s great to see green waste bins rolling out in Weston Creek and Kambah.
As a West Belco Border Collie I can’t wait to sniff out the local shop upgrades at Charnwood and Spence. I’m barking mad for Canberra’s local shops and I’m hoping my offer to shepherd in a new Poochies at the Shops launch event will be considered.
As one who likes to hit up my local via active transpawt, the new bikes on offer to help our humans walk or ride when we’re taking them out will go down like a bone in the sun. (I hope they all come with pooch perches on the back!)
Since my human Yvette has taken on being Sports Minister she’s been much busier on the weekends, but you know what they say, a dog who plays baseball always gets walked.
To show my commitment I’ve touched base with my canine friends in Narrabundah, and they’re pretty excited that ‘The Fort’ is getting a $4.5 mil upgrade. So excited they’ve delayed plans to strike out and form their own team, instead they’ve thrown their support behind the Cavalry for the 16/17 season.
I am disappointed that the government has not committed to helping my furry friends who are looking a little husky through my innovative Healthy Pooch Initiative.
To make sure all dogs can run free (and run off one too many table tidbits) I made a submission to the off-leash dog walking review. Yvette thinks the government hit a good balance between shared spaces where dogs need to be on lead, and special pooch parks where we can run free including:
- Belconnen, Lake Ginninderra, Diddams Close
- Greenway, Lake Tuggeranong, Mortimer Lewis Drive
- Yarralumla, Park land, Weston Park
- Forde, Park land, Amy Ackman Drive
- Casey, Park land, Springbank Rise
- O'Connor, Park land, Fairfax Street
- Plus, a new dog park in Weston Creek/Molonglo coming soon!
But I will continue to campaign for my ambitious proposal, see my proposed Dog Off Leash map below:
This budget has a lot of meat on the bones. It’s clear that the ACT Government knows that pooches will put up their paws for sensible services and pawsitive policy.
Until next year,
Cassie Cupcake
PS. As always, if you want to sink your teeth in the rest of the ACT Budget you can visit the ACT Treasury website.
