Page 5512 - Week 15 - Wednesday, 9 December 2009
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MR SMYTH (Brindabella) (11.12): It is good that there is tripartite agreement on this because this is an issue that the Liberals have been talking about for some years now. Indeed, in 2004, it was part of our policy that there be a master planning exercise done for Erindale. I recall the minister at the time, Mr Corbell, said there was no need. Indeed, he said there was no need to do planning for a master plan for Tuggeranong because everything was okay south of the lake. So it is good to see the reversal of the position of the Labor Party and I congratulate Mr Barr on coming to that conclusion.
I think those of us who live in Tuggeranong and enjoy using the services of both the Tuggeranong town centre and Erindale understand that there is work to be done so that those two locations can reach their full potential and, through that, serve the people of not just Tuggeranong but the ACT much better. So thank you, Ms Bresnan, for bringing this on. Thank you, Minister Barr, for having far more sense than your planning predecessor. It is great that all of us are moving forward on this.
I will move an amendment shortly but there is a history that seems to suggest that Erindale was in fact the desired location for the Tuggeranong town centre. Whether that is an urban myth or not is hard to determine. But it is quite clear that having two significant centres quite close together actually does involve some need for better planning. The minister’s objective of linking the two planning studies makes a great deal of sense in that way. There is no point doing planning for Tuggeranong that will counteract what is done at Erindale and there is no point doing planning for Erindale that will counteract that which is potentially done for Tuggeranong. In that regard, the two studies being done jointly is a very good suggestion.
It is important that we get this right. If you have seen some of the planning that has been done over the last couple of years in the Erindale area, it has not led to better outcomes. There was a lot of controversy about where the petrol station that Woolies has erected should go. Indeed, at that time we called for a master plan to be done before that could go ahead but the previous planning minister did not agree with that.
I think there is a lot of disquiet. McBryde Street is an interesting street as the main street through Erindale because of the twists and turns that it makes. Gartside Street in the last couple of years has really developed into quite a nice area but it fronts a car park. There is not room for all those restaurants now on Gartside Street. There is the Turkish Grill, which is doing incredibly well. As I go up the street, I am going to miss somebody; so I will probably get into trouble. I have eaten at probably all of them.
Then there are the takeaways like Ali Baba, Kingsley’s, Goodberry’s and Slow Noodle Fast. They drag in a lot of business that comes and goes. Then there are Thai Amarin, Thai Basil, Sunny’s, the Punjabi Hut and Erindale Vietnamese. The anchor tenant of that part of Erindale, of course, is the Vikings club who, for those who do not know, this year are celebrating their 30th anniversary.
You get a lot of traffic through that area. It has not been addressed and it actually needs to be addressed. The opportunity exists to rectify that, with the unfortunate closure of the garden centre. I understand a DA for a childcare centre was put in and then withdrawn. If we can get people to agree that the opportunity exists—and I think
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