Opposition Leader Elizabeth Lee will challenge the ACT government to ensure Canberra's schools are safe from exposure to hazardous materials by the end of Term 2, declaring the lead paint saga has gone on too long.
In somewhat of a break from tradition, Ms Lee won't use her first budget reply speech on Thursday to announce a new policy.
Instead, the new Opposition Leader will use the platform to call on the Barr government to accelerate the clean up of hazardous materials, such as lead paint and dust, at Canberra schools.
She will also argue in the speech that Canberra and Canberrans are being held back from realising their potential, while also calling for a united effort to find a "sensible and sustainable solution" to reducing carbon emissions and developing clean-energy technologies.
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"It's time to go beyond targets and work with industry and our higher education institutions to embark on the next part of our journey on climate action," Ms Lee will say in the speech, according to extracts provided to The Canberra Times.
"Canberra can be a genuine leader in developing world-leading solutions, led by science and technology."
Ahead of October's ACT election, Labor promised $15 million to fund the removal of hazardous materials after high levels of lead contamination were detected at four schools.
The promise effectively matched a Canberra Liberals' commitment made just weeks earlier.
In the speech, Ms Lee will challenge Labor and the Greens to support her call to ensure school students are safe from exposure to hazardous materials by the end of Term 2.
"How can we even begin on the track to have the best education outcomes in Australia when we cannot even guarantee that our students can be safe in our schools from exposure to hazardous materials?," she will say in the speech.
"This has gone on long enough.
"Surely, this is something that we, as a society, should be able to provide for our next generation, as a matter of course? See it for what it is; the good it is; and the need it is. Let us deal with this once and for all. Let us deal with this together.
"Let's make the eradication of hazardous materials from all Canberra schools a tri-partisan reality."
The education directorate will use its existing infrastructure budget to pay for hazardous materials works this financial year. Labor's promised $15 million will be funded in upcoming budgets, according to a spokeswoman for education minister Yvette Berry.
Ms Berry last week said experts had advised that painting over lead paint - a method known as encapsulation - would make it safe.
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