Page 742 - Week 02 - Thursday, 23 February 2012
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MS GALLAGHER: As the member would know, I get quite a lot of correspondence relating to Territory and Municipal Services issues.
In terms of Weston Park, we have actually been investing in Weston Park to return it to becoming a great place for families and children in recent years. I am very sorry to hear that someone has not found Weston Park to be up to standard. I know that the city rangers that maintain parks and places around Canberra take their job very seriously in trying to maintain the city to a very high standard of amenity. I am very sorry to receive that feedback, but we have actually been investing in Weston Park. We have just released the master plan response on Weston Park to actually make it a great place again.
I will certainly seek the advice I have received in response to that letter. I presume that I have responded or that it is in train at the moment. We do take the feedback from constituents very seriously. If there has been any slip-up in standards, we acknowledge that in the response and we learn from that and make sure that our processes are good in the future.
MR SPEAKER: Mr Seselja, a supplementary.
MR SESELJA: Minister, the constituent again wrote to you on 16 February stating that a further visit to the park had shown that the condition had not improved despite writing to you two weeks earlier. What action have you taken in response to the constituent’s concerns and what action will you now take to improve the condition of Weston Park?
MS GALLAGHER: The action I will be taking is following up the constituent’s concerns, as I do with every single piece of correspondence that comes into my office. If there has been a lapse in standards of maintenance at Weston Park, they will be fixed. But I would certainly take the advice from my department. I will respond to the constituent. We will continue to invest in our parks and playgrounds and open spaces around the city.
Indeed, one of the reasons why we have established the urban renewal fund is precisely for this reason. As our community grows and as the space that we have to maintain grows, which is 19 times, I think, the equivalent open space that is managed by Brisbane and Melbourne, we have more parks, playgrounds, pathways, bike paths and roads to maintain. We need to ensure that there is a commensurate growth stream of financing going into supporting that maintenance. That is exactly why we have taken the decision we have.
We look forward to the opposition’s support for that fund to make sure that as we add more playgrounds to the city we are able to maintain the ones we have and keep the new ones up to scratch as well.
MR HANSON: A supplementary, Mr Speaker.
MR HANSON: Yes, Mr Hanson.
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