Page 1110 - Week 04 - Thursday, 22 April 2021
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Mr Barr: I will go last, as I do on budget items. I have already spoken three times in the debate.
MR CAIN: Thank you for that correction, Chief Minister. Madam Speaker, I have here a picture of the areas of Canberra covered by the City Renewal Authority. I realise there is a rule on props or something.
MADAM SPEAKER: There are no props allowed, Mr Cain.
MR CAIN: I seek leave to table this document.
Leave granted.
MR CAIN: I present the following paper:
City Renewal Precinct Places—Map.
I do wonder, just wondering aloud a little, do we need a City Renewal Authority? For example, why do we not have a Belconnen renewal authority? Why do we not have a Gungahlin renewal authority, a Woden renewal authority or a Tuggeranong renewal authority? At the current time why do we not have these other parts of Canberra being given special treatment like the city precinct and inner north seems to be getting along the light rail corridor. I am sure Canberrans living in my electorate, Ginninderra, would like to have their district given special funding and allocation for development and maintenance.
The City Renewal Authority has an operating cost of $23.245 million and a capital cost of $59.161 million and I do query whether we need this separate authority, given the neglect shown to other parts of Canberra. It is a focus on one part at the expense of others. I do wonder too what proportion of the budget the City Renewal Authority has at its disposal compared to expenditure targeting other districts of Canberra. I suspect other districts are poor losers. I think of the many worthy projects in my electorate of Ginninderra, and I am sure there are other places in this city that would love to see this kind of expenditure, or part thereof, redirected to their neighbourhoods in Canberra.
I give some brief examples: the wonderful local initiative for developing play space in Melba, the SMILE initiative; upgrades to Florey Oval adjacent to a primary school that has need of such a facility; local shopping centres that need extra infrastructure like shaded areas, play equipment and public toilets—for example, Evatt shops, Paige shops, Florey shops, just to name a few; perhaps a focus on better cycling infrastructure for Ginninderra so that arterial roads like Kingsford Smith Drive, which has been recently re-marked to eliminate double-line traffic passage, which can be reviewed to see if there could be a dual lane and capacity for cycling down that main arterial road at Belconnen; and of course, as has been said many times this week, higher priority for better housing services, better policing services so that the community can feel safe in their neighbourhood. It is disappointing that there is one particular part of Canberra that is receiving disproportionate attention and expenditure, in my opinion, and I wish the government would reconsider its funding priorities.
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