Page 1718 - Week 06 - Thursday, 3 June 2021

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(a) Canberra was recently named the world’s most sustainable city;

(b) accolades such as this are the result of policy decisions made by the ACT government, together with important contributions from the business and not-for-profit sectors, and from individuals and other groups within our community;

(c) over the past decade, there has been a significant change to Canberra’s brand, image and identity with an improved sense of pride;

(d) the exponential growth in tourism, with visitor expenditure growing from $1.3 billion in December 2009 to $2.8 billion in December 2019, combined with being ranked third by Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel in 2018, are testament to this;

(e) despite this, national and international media and other outlets sometimes portray Canberra as being nothing more than the seat of federal politics;

(f) the ACT government’s “Brand CBR” and “More Than” campaigns position the city prominently and positively within the local and national psyche;

(g) Canberra is currently facing a skills shortage and needs to compete with many other cities across Australia to attract people;

(h) there is opportunity to leverage additional strategies to continue to develop Canberra’s reputation as a progressive, sustainable and contemporary city, offering a great quality of life, such as the global National Park City status;

(i) the National Park City Foundation has been established to recognise those cities in which government, business and community work together for improved relationships between people and nature;

(j) national park cities:

(i) have a vision and framework, developed through collaboration between city partners—government, organisations, businesses, groups and communities;

(ii) do not require a fee for application;

(iii) sit outside of legislation and do not impose any levels of planning restriction, approval processes or bureaucracy;

(iv) encourage reporting by the city to the National Park City Foundation to track progress; and

(v) provide international recognition and celebration of initiatives and projects underway, and of the city’s future aspiration;

(k) to date, London is the only city to be declared a National Park City;

(l) Adelaide has commenced the process to become recognised as a National Park City; and

(m) Canberra possesses the requisite qualities to become a National Park City; and

(2) calls on the ACT government to:

(a) explore whether there is benefit for Canberra to apply to become a National Park City through:

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