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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 03 Hansard (Thursday, 11 March 2004) . . Page.. 1067 ..

It will be achieved by focusing on seven strategic themes: investing in our people, building a stronger community, a city for all ages, Canberra’s knowledge future, partnership for growth, a dynamic heart, and the sustainable city—our bush capital.

The first theme is “investing in our people”—our greatest asset and potential. It is about promoting the concept of a learning city and providing the choice and opportunity to pursue personal growth and development. We will also be building a stronger community. Strong communities are those in which people are encouraged to contribute and to participate in community life.

It will also be a city for all ages: a city that caters for children, the elderly and everyone in between. That is one of the foundations of a fair, equitable and inclusive society. Canberra can only benefit from the different experiences and perspectives that people of various ages contribute.

We will also develop Canberra with a knowledge future by building on our competitive advantages and capitalising on our strengths. There will be partnership for growth when people join forces. When government, the community and business work together for a common cause much can be achieved. Dynamic and adaptive partnerships will help our community to achieve a common city vision.

We will also continue to develop a dynamic heart. Civic and central Canberra is a critical, unfinished part of our city’s planning and development. It is the piece missing from the Canberra jigsaw; a piece that is absolutely critical to our economic and social success.

Through the Canberra plan we will live with the environment in our bush capital. Canberra is and always will be a city and a landscape. It will be a sustainability city, one which is less vulnerable to bushfire and one which captures the many environmental and recreational opportunities in non-urban ACT.

These seven strategic themes will inspire and guide the government’s actions in the years ahead. These integrated themes reflect the strategy of the major component plans: the economic White Paper, the social plan and the spatial plan. It is the most comprehensive planning document Canberra has seen since not only self-government but also our city’s foundation. We are working through all this for a sustainable Canberra. We will be striving to make a lasting difference in the quality of life and wellbeing of current and future Canberrans.

The Canberra plan is an expression of where we as a community want to head and of what we need to do to get there. Having regard to the extent to which the community has engaged in this process, it is not surprising that its key elements are strongly supported. This is very much a plan for Canberra that has been developed by the people of Canberra to ensure their future.

It is a wonderful plan. I am proud to have been associated with its development. It is the singular, most significant piece of strategic work ever done in Canberra, particularly to the extent that it covers the field as it does. It is a classic, triple bottom line approach to strategic planning to create a vision that joins and links our spatial future, the need for

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