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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 14 Hansard (11 December) . . Page.. 4303 ..
Question resolved in the affirmative.
Bill agreed to in principle.
Leave granted to dispense with the detail stage.
Bill agreed to.
Order of business
Ordered that private members business notice No 20 be called on forthwith.
Employment accommodation strategies for Canberra
MR HARGREAVES (8.00): I move:
That the Assembly:
notes that the National Capital Authority (NCA) has approached the Territory to participate in its review of office employment restrictions at the Canberra Airport;
notes that the NCA has agreed to take part in the spatial planning and Canberra Plan process.
requests the NCA and the ACT Government to ensure that there is a comprehensive approach to employment accommodation strategies in Canberra, including the Canberra Airport, and that any development at the Airport is complementary to the broader needs of the ACT community.
Mr Speaker, I address the Assembly tonight as a member for Brindabella, an area of Canberra which struggles for employment opportunity. I am aware that what happens in a policy sense to Tuggeranong will have a mirror effect in Gungahlin and that, if Tuggeranong were to get a cold due to a lack of employment vision, Gungahlin would get the flu. I seek the support of the Assembly, in particular the members for Brindabella, for this motion.
As I am sure members would be aware, I have been concerned for some time about the maintenance of the long-established town centre development policies by the Commonwealth and ACT governments. I believe that the successful development of Belconnen, Woden and Tuggeranong has been fundamentally underpinned by longstanding policies that deliberately create employment in those town centres. Both the Territory Plan and the National Capital Plan have provisions that support the further development of town centres. There are sound reasons for these provisions. The future of the Gungahlin Town Centre would appear to rest on their continuation.
I have become very concerned that these longstanding policies have been eroded over the past couple of years by the development of de facto town centres at the Canberra Airport and the federal parliamentary precinct in Barton. In October, as a member for Brindabella, I wrote to the National Capital Authority expressing my concerns about the maintenance of employment opportunities in the established town centres.
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