Page 4255 - Week 14 - Wednesday, 27 November 2013
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There have been significant studies. We have heard criticism in this place of the lack of information, the lack of clarity and no clear basis for making the decisions, and yet those documents are available. There are significant reports out there that have been presented and, again, been discussed in this place on previous occasions. There does come a point where the leaders of the community need to make decisions. This Assembly is the place where those decisions get taken, and I am very pleased to be part of a government that has taken a decision to make this investment for the benefit of our whole city as we move forward into the future.
Members may have seen the article that appeared in today’s Canberra Times that I submitted and was published in the Times2 section, which particularly reflects on a recent visit I took to Portland in the USA. I was in the USA on a personal holiday and I took a couple of days out to go across to Portland, because it is considered to be one of the cities that have really transformed themselves through taking this decision. The history of Portland is very interesting and one worth reflecting on in this place. Portland built their first light rail in 1981. That followed a 1970 citizen-led freeway revolt, in which the citizens of Portland got tired of their neighbourhoods being bulldozed to put in more freeways. They were seeing significant loss of amenity in their city because of an overreliance on car-based infrastructure.
There is an excellent quote from a former Portland mayor who summed up his approach very well, and it is a useful quote to reflect on, given some of the previous discussions we have had in this place about various members’ apparent dislike of the private motor vehicle. I wish I had said this and I am going to repeat it in this place because I think it is a very valuable contribution. He said:
Portland didn’t declare war on cars. We just made the conscious decision not to surrender to them.
I think that is what this project is all about. It is about saying we acknowledge that in a city like Canberra the private motor vehicle will continue to play a role but we have to give our city an alternative.
Northbourne Avenue is at capacity. It is the most congested road in this city. The average peak hour speed is 20 kilometres an hour. We should be giving the people of Canberra a better choice than that. We should be giving them the opportunity to avoid the expensive costs of a second family car. We should be giving them a decent alternative.
Anyway, that is the path that Portland took. They took that decision some years ago. It was fascinating to go there. The progress that has been made, the significant impact that light rail and their street cars have had in transforming that city, is really quite amazing. What they have seen is significant light rail-related development that has provided benefits to the community. They have seen whole areas of the city that were formerly derelict, run down and uninhabited, transformed into vibrant neighbourhoods that are full of families, full of city life that people really enjoy.
In the article today, I reflected on one particular spot where there is a public fountain. It was built as a piece of artwork and as an amenity for people to enjoy. It has actually
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