Page 3881 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 30 November 2021

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Question resolved in the affirmative.

Original question, as amended, resolved in the affirmative.

Sport and recreation—dryland ovals

MS CLAY (Ginninderra) (4.16): I move:

That this Assembly:

(1) notes that:

(a) the ACT has 31 dryland ovals, including 14 in the Belconnen region and these make up a significant part of our outdoor community space;

(b) climate change is leading to a hotter, drier Canberra climate;

(c) these 31 dryland ovals were converted from irrigated sports fields due to the millennium drought, the cost of irrigation and the increasing amount of water needed to upkeep these sports fields;

(d) the cost to convert a dryland oval back into an irrigated sports field is more than one million dollars and the upkeep on these fields is considerable;

(e) dryland ovals are now first and foremost informal sporting and recreation spaces available to use for the whole community;

(f) dryland ovals are a community resource that are currently underutilised and residents near these ovals would like a better use of this large amount of local community space;

(g) ACT Government values dryland ovals as a community and recreational space, and wants to preserve them as publicly-owned green spaces;

(h) local communities provide valuable feedback about what is in and around their suburbs, and should play an active role in the development of their suburb;

(i) some communities are already well advanced in discussions with ACT government about the future of their dryland oval, such as the Florey community who have been engaging with the Florey Primary School over the past year; and

(j) community members have suggested many low-cost climate resilient ways that dryland ovals could be repurposed for community use, including but not limited to:

(i) community-constructed BMX dirt bike tracks;

(ii) nature playgrounds;

(iii) community run micro-forests or urban rewilding projects;

(iv) adventure playgrounds;

(v) enclosed dog off-leash areas;

(vi) community gardens;

(vii) outdoor exercise areas; and

(viii) disc golf courses;

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