Page 2064 - Week 07 - Thursday, 24 June 2021
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users of Lake Tuggeranong and all those in the Tuggeranong district join with her—in calling on this Labor-Greens government to show Tuggeranong the respect that it deserves, to support Ms Lawder’s motion and to deliver on those commitments.
MS LAWDER (Brindabella) (3.58), in reply: I thank members for their support of my motion today. I was a little perturbed by some of Mr Steel’s commentary. I have gone back to my motion. I thought I knew what was in it. On re-reading it, I did know what was in it. It is not about Tuggeranong town centre, Anketell Street and Reed Street; it is about Lake Tuggeranong and the foreshore area.
Mr Steel did make reference to the foreshore area and the connection through Tuggeranong town square or whatever you want to call it, where the gazebo that Mr Davis so lovingly referred to, from his lunchtime attendance, used to be. I have not said that there was anything wrong with those improvements. That was not what the thrust of my motion was about today. I am not talking about Anketell Street improvements, Mr Steel. I am not talking about the laneways project either. I am talking about the recreation area around Lake Tuggeranong.
I think most members here understood that that was exactly what I was talking about. And whilst I also was not talking about water quality, I can absolutely take Mr Davis’s comments on board. I, too, am deeply concerned about water quality in Lake Tuggeranong and I will continue to pursue the matter. It is just that that was not the thrust of my motion. My motion was not about the town centre, and it was not about water quality and algal blooms. We have a beautiful resource in the centre of the Tuggeranong district and it can be so much better.
I would like to acknowledge the work of the Tuggeranong Lake carers and the groups that meet twice a year for a clean-up around Lake Tuggeranong. They are supported by the Tuggeranong Community Council, who do their bit to keep litter down on the lake. I join with them whenever I can, often in my kayak, so that I can access material floating in the lake or stuck in the reeds rather than focusing only on the shore itself.
Despite Mr Steel’s comments—I am not quite sure where he gets his information from—in the last election we did have a campaign promise to improve Lake Tuggeranong’s surrounds and water quality. It was on our campaign materials, which were letterboxed to all Tuggeranong households. As usual, I am sure that Mr Steel did not want the facts to get in the way of a good story, so he chose to make up his own narrative when we clearly did have policies about Lake Tuggeranong’s surrounds and water quality.
There are many good things about Lake Tuggeranong and its surrounds. We want to make it even better for the residents of Tuggeranong. We hear from residents of Tuggeranong every day. Whilst we do not have the resources of government at our disposal, we do have our own pop-up stalls. We do doorknocking. We do meet people at coffee shops and chat to them. And we do receive dozens, if not hundreds, of emails, letters, calls and comments on our social media pages from residents. This is where we draw our knowledge of these types of issues from. Mr Davis clearly has a similar experience to ours.
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