Page 2074 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 15 May 2013
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government can spend on the Murray-Darling Basin project will be able to cover cleaning up our lakes and waterways and, in particular, Tuggeranong Creek, which runs through the back of Calwell and into Lake Tuggeranong. I believe that some of this funding will be available for creating some wetlands along Tuggeranong Creek, which will help reduce the sedimentation and algal blooms in Lake Tuggeranong.
The second issue is a community needs analysis of government services which will be undertaken in southern Tuggeranong. This will include a feasibility study for a library in Lanyon. This analysis and accompanying community consultation will be an excellent opportunity for the community to discuss the services and facilities which the government provides as opposed to the master planning process which, being a planning process, can really only discuss zoning of areas in any meaningful way. I think that provides a much more comprehensive approach and that it actually identifies what some of the real gaps are in addition to simply what the land use should be.
I do sometimes wonder whether the Canberra Liberals think that a master plan is a silver bullet, particularly given the number of motions that we have seen in the Assembly in recent years. I am not sure whether they have actually engaged in any of the master planning processes held over the past few years and whether they realise they do not suddenly deliver all the services that they call for overnight. We have had the debate about specific master plans many times in recent years. Mr Wall and other MLAs who were not here in the last Assembly may not realise that we have had so many requests—excuse me—for other master plans that the Greens ended up working with the government to establish a process—I think that is the first time anybody has sneezed mid-speech in the time that I have been in the chamber, but there you go.
Mr Coe: How will Hansard record it, I wonder?
MR RATTENBURY: I am not sure what Hansard will do with that, but I wish them well!
MADAM DEPUTY SPEAKER: “Member sneezed”, I would imagine.
MR RATTENBURY: We had so many requests for other master plans that the Greens ended up working with the government last term to establish a process for prioritising master plans for areas which were undergoing significant change or growth. I think that is probably where the focus should be—where we are seeing significant change and growth.
It does take considerable government time and resources to undertake a master planning process, including substantial community consultation and input, and generally culminating in a territory plan variation process. As members might imagine, it is difficult to rush these processes. We need to allow sufficient time and funding for them to run their full course in the development stages. I know that, from the ones we have seen, the community expresses a very considerable interest. Certainly, when I have been along to some of the consultation processes, I have found it a very valuable process in the sense that many members of the community come forward with ideas that are really reflective of their local knowledge and reflect the fact that they have a good sense of what an area needs and what might be possible.
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