Page 1125 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 6 May 2014
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That is because it is not distinct. It does not stand out. There is no sense of having arrived, of having a CBD. That, after 13 years, is the failure of this government and the failure of this Chief Minister. But it is particularly the failure of the planning regime. A lot of people, I suspect, do not have a great deal of confidence that the new city plan will be implemented, because previous city plans—great glossy documents, and we have all got the documents: “The city plan”, “Our city centre vision”—as we know from what the Chief Minister said in the last hearing, are not actually plans to deliver anything.
If you were looking for guidance on what this government has achieved in delivering a better city centre for this city, you would go back to other things that they have done. That brings us to the last effort in 2005, almost a decade ago. They were in government from 2001 to 2005, but nothing happened in the city. The retailers and owners in the city centre set up their own body, “City Heart”—well done to them—and said, “Somebody has to do something, because this government does not get it.”
There was a lot of criticism. Good luck to Terry Snow. Terry Snow put out his “Living city” DVD. Colin Stewart did some great work about how you would bring life to the city. By creating a heart, you would help provide the identity. Zed Seselja, I think in March 2005, tabled his City Hill development bill, saying that we need a body dedicated to making this happen. Of course, the government, aided and abetted by the Greens, voted against it. Stung into action, Mr Corbell leapt into the glossy stakes and produced City hill: a concept for the future.
If people were looking for inspiration or guidance as to what the government had achieved in the last decade, almost, since the publication of City hill: a concept for the future, they would be sorely disappointed. I suspect they will be sorely disappointed by the city plan, our strategic plan for 2014. In Mr Corbell’s plan he has about 16 key initiatives—things like the city gateway, which still does not exist; the Northbourne Avenue realignment, which has not occurred; the city heritage precinct, which I doubt much work has been done on; hotel development with public car parking there at the intersection of Northbourne and London Circuit, which has not happened. The law precinct was there; the courts were already there when this document was published. There was the east-west city pathway; I do not think it has happened.
There was the ACT Supreme Court. How long have we been talking about that? There we are: 2005. Yet there is additional money in the second appropriation bill for more work on the ACT Supreme Court. Nine years, and probably three or four more years before it is delivered. The Edinburgh Avenue connection has not happened. What about commercial and residential developments with public car parking underneath? There has been a bit of commercial development there, but I suspect a lot of it had already happened. What about the city to West Basin connection? We are still talking about it. That is because this government does not deliver, because this government does not get how important the city is.
In that time, they have gone out and done Molonglo. Why? Because they needed the revenue. For this government, it is always about the revenue. It is not about what they are building and how we have a future.
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