Page 783 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 8 April 2014
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I welcome many pieces of public art that are around the city. I do not like all of them, but that is a matter of my personal taste. I think they bring real vibrancy to the city. The one that was opened about 15 months ago just out the front of the Canberra Centre, at the bottom of Ainslie Avenue, is a very colourful piece. It is a great piece of public art that has been enormously popular. Every time I go past, there seem to be kids jumping on it. It is actually nice to see a piece of public art that is so accessible for so many people.
I think they are the sorts of things that we need to be looking at as we seek to enliven parts of the city. We need to work collaboratively with groups like Canberra CBD Ltd. I think they have made an excellent contribution to the life of this city in terms of both the hard practical infrastructure and the on-ground stuff. There is the contribution they make in terms of cleaning, the ideas they bring to government, the programs they put together around things like skate in the city and the Christmas festival that we have seen in recent years. They are really valuable contributions to the city.
That is what this is about. It is about government perhaps providing the strategic direction but then allowing those with great ideas and great energy to get on with some of those projects. Finding that balance, I guess, is always the great challenge for government. Having the flexibility to work effectively with the many private sector people around who want to help us build this city in a really positive way is something we need to embrace where we can.
Mr Smyth: Listen to them about the lease variation charge and they will build.
MR RATTENBURY: I hear a broken record in the chamber, but I cannot make it out clearly. Let me leave my remarks there. I think the city is in a really interesting place. I expect to see it evolve considerably in coming years, and I look forward to seeing that evolution take place.
Discussion concluded.
Adjournment
Motion (by Mr Corbell) proposed:
That the Assembly do now adjourn.
Yarralumla Nursery
MR GENTLEMAN (Brindabella) (4.13): I rise to talk about a fantastic event that occurred on Sunday—the 100th anniversary celebration of the Yarralumla Nursery. One of the reasons I love living in Canberra is the way it feels like a garden city. No matter what part of the city you are in, whether you are down in our electorate of Brindabella or in Gungahlin in the north or even the city centre—which is bisected by leafy Northbourne Avenue and Haig park—the Yarralumla Nursery is the reason this green urban design has been so successful in our garden city.
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