Page 1507 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 14 May 2014

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(b) publish updates to maintenance schedules quarterly; and

Last year Canberra celebrated its 100 years since establishment, so it is inevitable that we have a number of suburbs that have infrastructure that dates back nearly that long. I am privileged to be an MLA for Molonglo, which includes some of Canberra’s earliest and most historic suburbs. Their history of development makes for fascinating reading and puts paid to the claim that Canberra is a new city with no history or soul. Indeed, you only need to roam through some of Molonglo’s oldest suburbs to see the historic links that Canberra has to Australia’s early history.

Yarralumla was officially gazetted in 1928. Europeans first settled the area in 1828, and it was named Yarralumla in 1834, from the Indigenous Ngunnawal people’s term for the area. The Griffith area was previously known at Blandfordia, named after the Christmas bell. Settlement of the Blandfordia 5 precinct south-west of Manuka began in 1926 and 1927. In 1928, southern Blandfordia was renamed Griffith and northern Blandfordia became Forrest. Ainslie is another early suburb, having had the first housing constructed around Corroboree park between 1925 and 1927 to accommodate tradesmen for the construction of the city. The suburb was gazetted in 1928, as was Deakin. Campbell is a more recent addition, having been gazetted in 1956, but it, too, has strong links with Canberra’s early history, being originally Duntroon station. I could go through and list a dozen other suburbs, not just in Molonglo, that have similar histories and similar vintages.

It is inevitable that as our city ages and matures we will start to see maintenance and infrastructure issues. We have seen it in some of our older schools, many of which were constructed using asbestos materials, requiring upgrade or replacement.

As a city, we make proud claims to being Australia’s bush capital, and the early decision to give free trees and shrubs to every home builder has certainly reaped rewards. The wide streets and numerous open spaces also allowed for mass tree plantings, and we see the benefit of those early decisions in our four seasons—the beautiful autumn colours, the blossom in spring, the shady parks in summer, the tall eucalypts of several varieties. All these add to the appeal this city has to residents and visitors alike.

However, there are downsides. Deciduous trees shed masses of leaves; eucalypts shed bark and drop limbs; and our large streetscape trees have massive root systems which, over time, inevitably lift up footpaths and produce limbs that overhang pathways.

As a local member in a local legislature, I think it is important to concentrate on the things that we can affect and the things that matter to our constituents. Footpaths are probably the most consistently complained about issue, followed closely by streetlights that either do not work or are ineffective, especially in suburbs like Forrest, where the lights are older and the trees are bigger. At certain times of the year, shedding trees and loose branches are a serious trip hazard, especially for our older residents.

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