Page 1932 - Week 05 - Thursday, 6 May 2010
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but we do not know about the sensitivity of the urban development. We do know that last year’s waiver of change of use charges to encourage development was a success, so it is difficult to believe that an increase in the change of use charge will not impact on developments.
I will briefly comment on transport initiatives. As the government knows, we have been pushing strongly for active transport, and sustainable transport and public transport are part of that. We are very pleased that public transport has been a focus of this year’s budget. We are very pleased that our requests for work on inner north and Northbourne traffic issues have been picked up. We are very pleased that there will be feasibility studies for Northbourne Avenue and how this can be reworked, particularly for buses, pedestrians and cycle commuters. I look forward to talking further with Mr Stanhope about this.
Another thing we asked for was the redesign of some areas into shared spaces, particularly the town centre of Gungahlin. There is nothing in the budget which supports that, although I note that, following my motion yesterday, Mr Stanhope agreed to look into it.
I point out also that a number of the transport initiatives being funded in the 2010-11 budget are leftover items from the government’s 2004 sustainable transport plan. I guess we could say that it is better late than never, because we do support those.
Pedestrian and cycling funding did not fare as well as public transport. There is $1 million for each of the pedestrian and cycle infrastructure—welcome, of course. But I note that, because of the parliamentary agreement, recurrent funding for cycling infrastructure is to be increased to $3.6 million per annum—and the same for footpath funding, which was boosted by another half million. These are areas which need increased funding, particularly when you remember that there is $185 million in funding out for road contracts right now. The paybacks from active transport are great.
We also applaud the increased expenditure on lighting for pedestrian and cycling networks, particularly in the inner north. Where I live, that has been one of the problems.
I go to heritage. We very much welcome the capital works projects on heritage such as Cargill’s dairy and additional heritage signing. But it appears that there are no additional operational funds for the Heritage Council; considering that the council currently has a 10-year backlog to clear, this is disappointing.
I go briefly to arts. I am very pleased that some of the infrastructure spending will help house some of ACT’s arts groups. There is money for the Canberra Potters Society and the Street Theatre, for example. I am also optimistic about the outcomes from the $1.8 million for film projects; Canberra has some good opportunities with its film industry and we can see lots of projects coming from our local talents. I am pleased, also, that there is positive movement on the Kingston arts precinct plan; I would like to get some more information about how that is developing.
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