Page 253 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 15 February 2012
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The government is also committed to addressing the issues of stormwater management in the ACT more broadly and, of course, we currently have the inquiry being undertaken by the Commissioner for Sustainability and the Environment, which is looking at the state of water courses across the ACT and also of Lake Burley Griffin. The results of these investigations will feed directly into the government’s future consideration of management options to further improve water quality in Lake Tuggeranong.
Of course, what we see in this motion is, in some respects, the result of what has been a very heavy and prolonged period of summer rain, and these rains have transported a large amount of material into Lake Tuggeranong. The design of the lake and its stormwater system include gross pollutant traps or GPTs. The GPTs are designed to trap coarser material that is transported along the stormwater channels to the lake, allowing easy removal of the material. This limits to a degree the amount of material that finds its way into the lake. Of course there is always more that can be done to improve water quality and the amenity value of Lake Tuggeranong, and the government is committed to pursuing those options.
Finally, I want to address the issue of Tharwa. It is important to note that Tharwa is included on the government’s master planning program, and it is a village that will see detailed master planning occur at a future date. But I want to talk particularly about the Tharwa bridge, because it is an outstanding example of this government being prepared to invest a considerable amount of taxpayer resources to deliver an outstanding heritage revival. The Allan truss bridge, of course, is one of the few remaining examples of that engineering style for bridges in Australia, and it was this Labor government that was prepared to invest over $20 million to completely replace that bridge and restore it to its original glory. As a result, we have a fantastic result on the Murrumbidgee River. It is a stunning bridge once again—a useable bridge, a bridge that can now carry heavy traffic, which it could not before in its previous condition and well before the well-publicised problems with the original bridge structure.
We have a fantastic bridge that can carry heavier traffic, such as coaches, into Tharwa, down to Namadgi national park, taking tourists and visitors to those locations. That is a great outcome for Tharwa. That is a great outcome for the areas south of Tharwa, such as Namadgi.
Of course, the bridge itself means that we have been able to retain the stunning heritage vista of that part of the Murrumbidgee River valley. The Tharwa bridge is, of course, an intrinsic heritage aspect of that, and it was this government that took the decision to make the investment. I know it is going to pay dividends for decades to come.
We should celebrate the fact that we have this fantastic bridge over the Murrumbidgee once again. We should celebrate the fact that we have been able to maintain the unique heritage aspects of that structure and that it once again is an integral part of the Tharwa village. Of course, it was this Labor government that made the difficult decision to invest a significant amount of money, well above that required for a replacement bridge structure, to make sure that the heritage values were retained.
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