Page 3420 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 18 September 2013
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community—and, most of all, a much-needed resource and family respite option for parents and carers of children with a disability.
While we are not the first jurisdiction in Australia to have such facilities, the play space here in the ACT will take the best designs and ideas from similar projects around the country, adapt them and bring them to the best and most innovative all-abilities play space in the nation.
I note with interest that 17 all-abilities playgrounds have been built recently throughout Queensland. These have been funded by the state government and local councils together. These playgrounds have been built under the Queensland all-abilities playground project, and they have been built with strong community involvement in the design process. This means that users of the playgrounds are involved in the planning, design, development and construction components of each play area. This community involvement does not end at the design phase. There is ongoing involvement from the users right up to the construction phase. By engaging community all the way through, there is truly community ownership of the project. I hope these aspects are evident in Boundless Canberra as it is developed.
Once again, I would like to thank Ms Berry for bringing this motion here today. I speak for all my colleagues when I say that we are happy to promote Boundless Canberra and the benefits it brings to the ACT community and support any further gifts or donations in kind that will ensure that this project, which is certainly much needed, is delivered by the community.
MR RATTENBURY (Molonglo) (6.24): I also welcome the fact that Ms Berry has brought this motion on today. It is an opportunity to reflect on what really is a visionary idea—a vision of inclusion which will be a wonderful addition to the fabric of our city. One only needs to look at the recent success and popularity of the new playground at the Arboretum—which has been inundated; I gather you can barely squeeze your child into it because of the number of children in there—to see how popular a good playground can be.
That is where the real beauty of Boundless lies. Whilst it will be an all-abilities playground, it can be easily accessed by children of all ability levels without being readily identified as disabled access equipment. That is part of the beauty of this design: it is a very inclusive model. I expect to see kids of all abilities out there having a wonderful time together and doing what kids do best—seeing past some of the things that we as adults see and simply getting in and having a great time together.
This will be an excellent legacy of our centenary year, one that will be enjoyed by children and young people for many years to come.
I am particularly impressed by the involvement of the public servants in pledging both time and money to make this playground their gift to the Canberra community for 2013—supported by valuable in-kind contributions from the ACT private sector. I do not want to get into naming individuals, because I know this is an enormous team effort, but some of the public servants that I work with through my portfolio have been strong advocates and heavily involved in pushing this project to where it has got
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