Page 657 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 9 March 2011
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townhouse complex and I do not have any grass in either of my small front or back yards, nor do virtually all the other owners of the houses in our complex.
Since I am now a retired pensioner, I am not able to cut this grass outside my back fence, nor do I have the equipment to even do it.
I am not discounting the enormity of the task. In fact, it is the reality of just how big the task is which emphasises why we must get it right. We must have a plan or strategy to take us forward. I believe Canberra is a good place, but it could be even better.
The Canberra Liberals are committed to holding this government to account and ensuring that they do not neglect the core services that the rate payers of Canberra expect.
In this speech, I have not even touched on graffiti, potholes, car parking, ACTION buses, streetlights, drainage and other core urban services. Time does not permit. However, all these things are very much on the radar of the Canberra Liberals as needing reform in how they are dealt with.
I ask Mr Stanhope to take on board the sentiments of this motion and to address the call to action. I ask Mr Stanhope to return the focus of government back to core business, so that Canberrans can get a fair deal for their taxes, rates, fees, fares and charges.
MR STANHOPE (Ginninderra—Chief Minister, Minister for Transport, Minister for Territory and Municipal Services, Minister for Business and Economic Development, Minister for Land and Property Services, Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs and Minister for the Arts and Heritage) (5.31): I welcome the opportunity to address this motion most particularly in relation to our urban amenity. I am always disappointed and surprised when I hear members of this place in particular talking Canberra down. We hear quite a bit of it in a whole range of respects.
Mr Coe interjecting—
MR SPEAKER: Mr Coe, you were heard in silence.
MR STANHOPE: I am always surprised when I hear and see members of the Liberal Party talking down our economy, talking down Canberra as a place to work, talking down Canberra as a place to live and talking down the beauty of Canberra. I repeat, and I will repeat it to my dying day, that I do not know a more sublimely beautiful place anywhere in the world than Canberra. It is the most delightful, sublimely beautiful, wonderful city and it always disappoints me when elected representatives do not share that depth of feeling for this city and for the beauty of this city.
An interesting survey undertaken recently by the Property Council of Australia on the liveability of Australian cities, using an objective measure—detailed polling and research undertaken by the Property Council of all of Australia’s cities—ranked Canberra, on the basis of a whole range of criteria, as the second most liveable city in Australia. This was a survey that was released just this year, I think in the last six weeks or so. It was a survey that was undertaken by the Property Council over the
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