Page 3840 - Week 12 - Thursday, 23 November 2006
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An increasing number of people are telling me that they try to keep out of Civic. I know that our planning hierarchy now assumes that people will come into Civic and that while they are here they might as well go to the library. But there is the parking issue, and the atmosphere of Civic is not conducive to some people; not everyone likes it. If people already do not like coming to Civic, they are not going to come here just because their library is closed. I suspect it will mean that fewer people from the Griffith area will use the library.
We are a city that talks about being full of educated people; we are a city that promotes lifelong learning. Libraries are an important part of that. As I said, you cannot have too many of them, though you certainly can have too few and you can have them inconveniently located. Mr Hargreaves says that Weston Creek has not got a library. Weston Creek would probably like a library. I do not think the fact that Weston Creek does not have a library is a reason why the Griffith community should not have a library.
I want to talk about the importance of community libraries as a place from which community development can grow. Community libraries are networking places. They are places where people can put up notices of events that are occurring. They are places where people can meet for those events. They are places that people who are isolated know that they can visit and find at least one person who will speak to them that day. This is so important in our ageing society. More and more people are living alone. We have got a planning process. We have more and more flats and apartments. More and more people are living on their own. The number of people in families is diminishing every year.
Last night I heard a presentation from an employee in the Chief Minister’s Department who is involved in residential aged care. He talked about a concept called “virtual aged care”. It is something that apparently the government is interested in exploring. This means putting elderly people together in some way. The impetus has to come from the people themselves, but the proposal involves networking them and having them support each other. We need to explore the role of a library as a pivotal part of that. That needs to be explored—and here we are talking about one of the areas in Canberra with a very high density of aged people.
Finally, let me address the point about the mobile library. It does not provide that interaction. This is a case where local members maybe have been lacking. I have not seen the Labor Party people—all the Molonglo members and ministers—at any of the rallies. At the rallies I have seen Mr Pratt and I have seen Mrs Burke. Of course, I have been there. Have you been there, Mr Smyth? I am not so sure, but that is an issue for all of us, I think.
MR MULCAHY (Molonglo) (11.38): I would like to speak in favour of my colleague’s motion. I condemn this government for its decision to close the Griffith library, made with minimal consultation.
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