Page 470 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 13 February 2013
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did not hear any such comment. And I am a local. What about visitors who are coming? How would they handle all of these issues? We had quite a substantial number of visitors. That is one of the reasons why you, the government, Mr Barr, have been selling all of the major events. I applaud that; they attract visitors. But to attract visitors we have got to do something to make sure they come back again.
We will not be supporting the amendment. Our motion is about developing a proper parking management plan for the Manuka precinct. We agree that there is not an easy solution, but there are certainly areas which could be utilised in a short-term capacity that may be free space. Some free areas of land which were utilised around Manuka Oval in past years have gradually been filled in and developed, but there are other areas that could be used for short-term development.
You mentioned the Melbourne Cricket Ground and that people do not expect to be able to park 20 metres from it. I can assure you that I was at the Melbourne Cricket Ground a little while ago, and they do have parking spaces around that are utilised for the short-term purposes that we are talking about. So let us be just a bit more logical about this. We are suggesting that this successful event should not be turned into another situation like we have had for the last two matches. That is the reason for our motion.
As far as your legal car parks go, that is just ridiculous obfuscation. We are talking about weekdays. There may be some logic in saying that on the weekends, on a Saturday night match at Manuka Oval, there are a lot of car parking spaces about. But even then, a lot of those car parking spaces are filled by people who go to various entertainments around Canberra, so there are limitations to the so-called logic that you are using about the number of legal car parks available.
The reality is that there is no short-term plan for the Manuka precinct. And by the way, the shopkeepers were very much disadvantaged when the waivers that you claim were given were put into effect. What happens to people who want to come shopping at Manuka when people are parking there for longer than expected? The shopkeepers’ businesses are affected.
The logic just does not make sense. As a consequence, we will not be supporting the amendment.
MR RATTENBURY (Molonglo) (12.23): I thank Mr Doszpot for bringing on this motion today. It is a great opportunity to reflect on what has been, as he well described, a sports tragics festival over the last couple of weeks.
Certainly the two cricket matches at Manuka Oval were, in my opinion, outstanding successes, in terms of the number of people who attended and the quality of the matches. I think that on both occasions the crowds who went had a fairly good time. We were certainly blessed with great weather on both occasions, which no doubt added to it. The TV coverage of the one-day international was also an excellent tourism advertisement for Canberra: the aerial shots and the way the commentators talked about both the ground and the city were tremendous for Canberra.
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