Thank you, Madam Chair. I wanted to make some general comments in the area of community empowerment. I am pleased to see the department is putting such an emphasis on training community people. The pace of community empowerment must reflect and respect both the community's ability and interest to take on new responsibilities. This indicates to me that the Minister and her department have taken a serious look and listened to the concerns of the Ordinary Members. We have been saying, repeatedly, things should not progress faster than what the communities themselves and the people in the communities can handle. This certainly shows that the Minister is listening and I appreciate that. I see that they will be putting $1.2 million towards increasing support, training and monitoring so they can develop and continue to develop and improve the initiative. This is a really good move.
Training and development needs will be identified and plans will be developed to build the capacity and develop the skills of local people so they can successfully assume greater levels of responsibility. This is the key, Madam Chair, and I commend the Minister for her endeavours in this area. From what I have seen, it looks as though the department will be getting a few more policy analysts. We now have an ADM in place and hopefully these policy analysts will be northern people who will know the region, will know the people and will lend their expertise to that of the ADM and continue this initiative. I like the way things are going right now. Thank you.