Page 1124 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 6 May 2014
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While the government is concerned about possible negative short-term impacts on our economy from cuts in the commonwealth public sector, the government is working with the private sector to buttress our economy and ensure we are in a position to weather any changes in the medium to long term.
We cannot stop the commonwealth cuts—maybe the Canberra Liberals could do something about it—but we can play a role in ensuring that we emerge out of this period as soon as possible and in a stronger position. We will do what we can to stimulate this economy, to provide confidence and to seek new investment in the ACT economy.
MR SMYTH (Brindabella) (5.30): As a city-state, for the ACT you could virtually just drop the word “state”. We are a city. The city is our home, it is our economy and it is our future. If you want to have a decent home, if you want to have a good economy and if you want to have a great future, then, by implication, we must become city builders.
We have not built the city properly in the last decade. We have not built it to be resilient. We have not built it to be sustainable. We particularly have not built a great city heart. Let us not doubt it. Great cities have great city hearts. If you go to Sydney, it is the Rocks or Circular Quay. With any other capital city in Australia, if you mention an address or a street that is well known, people will identify that city. I am not sure that there are many people in the rest of Australia who, if you referred to Manuka, Kingston or even London Circuit, would identify that as Canberra.
That is the failure of this government. We can have as many motions as we want; we can have all the MPIs that you want; we can have all the legislation and the budgets that you might want. But until you know where you are taking the city, the city will not have a real future. Until you build the city heart, which for the last 13 years has been sorely and largely neglected, this city will not have a great future.
Interestingly, Charles Landry, in his book The Art of City Making, on page 25, talks about city sprawls. He says that cities sprawl into every crevasse that once was nature. Of course, Mr Landry is not a big fan of sprawling cityscapes. What does he use to illustrate cities sprawling into every crevasse that once was nature? A picture of the CBD of Canberra. It is a picture of the sprawl that, largely under this government, has remained unchanged.
I know that we now have a city plan, but we also have the revelation from the Chief Minister that it is not really a plan; it is more of a spatial plan—because we really do not have any idea when we might deliver any of the initiatives. One of the things that came out of the consultation, if you read the consultation documents, is that a lot of people just said, “Get on with it.” They want a city heart, a place that is easily recognisable as their city signature.
Unfortunately for Canberra, and we have had this discussion over many years, you come down the Federal Highway, you come down Northbourne Avenue and you are virtually on Commonwealth Avenue before you realise that you have passed the city.
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