Page 467 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 13 February 2013
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(l) the contribution of the Economic Development Directorate, Cox Architects and ActewAGL in delivering the broadcast lights in time for the two matches.”.
The PM’s XI and the one-day international were overwhelmingly successful. The wicket was perfect for limited-over cricket. More than 1,200 runs were scored in the two matches, with plenty of boundaries and sixes and some amazing catches.
The new lights are the best in Australia, perhaps some of the best in the world. As planning minister, I was very pleased to use the powers available to me under the Planning and Development Act to call in and approve the development application for those lights, to enable their timely construction and installation prior to these games proceeding. The lights will help Manuka secure more first-class cricket and AFL games for our city.
I would like to acknowledge the support of the commonwealth government, along with the ACT government, in securing the financing necessary for this very important upgrade of Manuka Oval. It is also important to acknowledge some of the work by others, including Cox Architecture and Ian Smith; the commonwealth government, in particular the Minister for Sport, Senator Lundy; the hardworking officials at the Economic Development Directorate; the contractors engaged; and ActewAGL. All in all, it was a fantastic investment in the future of our city, with the upgrade to an important sporting arena for our city.
I turn to parking and traffic issues. Due to parking and traffic issues in previous years, a traffic and parking management strategy was developed and implemented. This was to ensure that people knew where to park safely. It may come as a surprise to those opposite, but there are over 7½ thousand legal parking spaces within a one-kilometre walk of Manuka Oval. The capacity of Manuka Oval is around 12,000 or so. So for every second person going to Manuka Oval there is a car parking space within one kilometre of the oval. That is a very high level of parking provision. If you go to the MCG or any other major stadium around the country, do you seriously expect that you will be able to find a car park within one kilometre of those major stadia for every car that shows up? For the MCG, it would be over 80,000 car parks. It is an absurd position from those opposite.
The government put in place an extensive program to provide clear information to patrons attending the event and to give them good transport choices. Information on parking and travel was publicised through the Manuka Oval website, the ACTION buses website and Canberra Connect. There were items in the local media, including TV and radio interviews by Mr Guthrie, the General Manager of ACT Venue and Event Services, in the lead-up to the event. There was the use of social media and an eight-page feature on the one-day international in the Canberra Times. All outlined very clearly what the parking and other transport choices were for people attending these very popular events. For the one-day international, free travel on ACTION buses was provided for all ticket holders. So all ticket holders, in the price of the ticket, won free travel on ACTION buses to and from the venue. This allowed people
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