Page 2909 - Week 13 - Thursday, 23 November 1989
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Let us not make the same mistakes as other urban areas and cities have made.
I would like to make one suggestion. I know it has been considered by ACTION and has worked successfully in other capital cities. I am referring now to a bus service that transports shoppers, city workers and tourists around the precincts of cities like Adelaide and Perth, to name at least two. These services are free, Mr Speaker, because the cost of collecting fares is almost equal to or more than the fares that would be collected. I am sure that the bright marketing minds in ACTION could come up with a suitable promotional campaign to sell this service.
I want to address very briefly the comments made by Mr Wood in relation to Gungahlin and its effect on Civic. It may be, Mr Speaker, that in making these comments on Gungahlin the National Capital Planning Authority was not prepared to accept the suggestion that, if the dispersed centre or Y plan is to work, employment must be provided in the town centres. We know that, despite the alleged efforts of the member for Canberra, Mrs Kelly, to encourage Federal offices into Tuggeranong, the time scale that was established by the NCDC for the development of the town centre was not adhered to by the Government. By "time scale" I mean the time scale for establishing the working opportunities for people of the Tuggeranong Valley to use. These undertakings were not kept.
Even in recent times we saw the same member, at the opening of the work on the Churches Centre, indicating or hinting that it would be possible in the future that members of her department - the Department of Defence - would be moving into that building. What did we have, Mr Speaker? We had empty words. It did not happen. The work has now stopped, and I understand that some 200 workers are currently waiting for work on that particular site. That is possibly why the National Capital Planning Authority was not keen. In the past it has had its recommendations and ideas ignored by Government, ideas and suggestions made on very important planning issues.
We have to remember that the centre of Tuggeranong is some 25 kilometres from Civic but the proposed Gungahlin centre will only be 12 kilometres away. So the pressure on Civic to have people travel just a short distance down the road to work in Civic will be considerable. (Extension of time granted)
Mr Wood: Watch out, Civic!
MR JENSEN: That is the point, Mr Wood. It is a case of "Watch out, Civic", and that is why it is important that, if Gungahlin is going to go ahead and if it is going to develop - and I think there is no suggestion that we are not going to need areas for an expanding population in the ACT - we do not make the same horrific mistakes that were made in Tuggeranong in relation to the provision of working places for people who live in that area.
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