Page 1550 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 12 August 1992
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I am stressing that urban renewal is not a panacea; it will not provide everything that you want. It will not provide, very simply, infrastructure. The transport solutions that you are seeking are also dealt with by Professor Troy. It will not provide for people using their cars much, much less. Even if it did, it would not necessarily reduce the problems of the greenhouse effect. We have to tackle those problems, but we have to tackle them within the structure of our city. Our city is very different from every other Australian city. It is very different from almost every other city in the world, in that it is, in effect, a series of cities.
It is absolutely critical that we always keep that in mind and that we work towards ensuring that employment is centred in each of the cities and that, when we look at urban renewal and reducing the distance that people travel to work, we reduce, first and foremost, the distance that people travel to their work within their cities. We can do that only if we have employment in the city centres. That is why I consider that the interjection from the Leader of the Opposition about the movement of Mrs Kelly's department to Tuggeranong reflects a great lack of understanding of what is needed in Canberra, as that was one of the positive contributions that Mrs Kelly has made to making Canberra work.
Mr Wood: So we are bringing more people into these centres for this employment?
MR MOORE: The Minister interjects that the need is to put more people in these centres as far as employment goes. The answer is yes.
Mr Wood: From out of town?
MR MOORE: No, not from out of town; from the people who live there. We must make sure that employment is available to them in the city centres rather than concentrating it in the Civic Centre of the ACT.
Mr Wood: Agreed. Where do they come from?
MR MOORE: The Minister now interjects, "Where do they come from?". For some years the Federal Government has had a policy of ensuring that its departments are located in those decentralised areas. That is something that we have to pursue, and we have to make sure that there is not room available for them to develop in the Civic Centre. It is a point that I have put on many occasions.
A final point that I would like to make is that, if we think the way to control the development of Canberra is going to provide a panacea, we are wrong. If we think we can force people into a certain style of living, we will be wrong. (Extension of time granted) What is already happening and what will happen to a greater extent is that people will move into the shires of Queanbeyan and Yarrowlumla and live on their quarter-acre blocks there. Do not think that will mean that it will be done at no cost to us; we will still wear the transport costs of getting people from those shires into the ACT, or from our borders at least; we will still wear the costs of damage to our roads, the need to maintain roads and the need to retain fuel.
The point that I am trying to make is that there is no panacea. The point that Mr Lamont made in the initial instance was that an integrated solution is needed. That is correct. But to get that integrated solution we need an overall strategy, and that is what we are still waiting for.
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