Page 4875 - Week 11 - Thursday, 21 October 2010
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of this city and beyond. That means taking proactive steps to engage with them, because the more traditional methods of consultation are being dominated by the same old voices who put forward their same old generational issues. Their selfishness at times astounds me, and I think it is important that we take a leadership role as an Assembly to engage with younger Canberrans. The overwhelming majority of people in this city are young. The single largest demographic in this city is aged between 20 and 30, and yet their issues do not get the air time they deserve.
There are two clear themes that are emerging from the consultation with younger Canberrans, and that is about a future that is sustainable and a future that is affordable. It means representatives in this place taking the time to engage with those people through programs such as the suburban challenge that the ACT Planning and Land Authority are running with schools but also going out and meeting with young people and doing more than just going to community councils.
It means taking that extra step to engage with younger Canberrans, moving online and engaging in social networking and engaging in a variety of other consultative mechanisms, because the old Liberal Party with their stick-in-the-mud traditions of only engaging with people in the last 25 years of their lives is not the way to go for the future of this city. If they are the only voices the Liberal Party is going to hear in this debate, it is to their detriment.
MR HARGREAVES: A supplementary.
MR SPEAKER: Yes, Mr Hargreaves.
MR HARGREAVES: Thanks very much, Mr Speaker. Minister, in your consultation process dealing with children, have you consulted with the opposition yet?
MR SPEAKER: The question is out of order.
MS HUNTER: A supplementary?
MR SPEAKER: Yes, Ms Hunter.
MS HUNTER: Minister, you spoke about the particular program and competition. Will you actually be taking the ideas and using them in planning processes or was it just for the purposes of the competition?
MR BARR: As I indicated in my first answer, in relation to both the thinking on the review of the Canberra spatial plan and also the Canberra 2030 process, those views will of course be taken into account. I intend to undertake a range of activities, forums, events, politics in the pub, online events that will enable younger Canberrans to engage in these issues. This is for young people from primary school age right through to—
Mr Hanson: Young people and politics in the pub?
MR BARR: We will extend the definition of “young” to “into their early forties”. There will be a range of different forums, age appropriate of course so that those
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