Page 74 - Week 01 - Tuesday, 10 February 2015
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other social media presence to engage in regular ongoing conversations with the Canberra community. There is the Mobile Canberra app launched last year to help residents and business alike locate amenities. It provides information to Canberrans on local amenities at 9,800 separate locations. Then there is the Time to Talk Canberra website where people can have their say on local issues, including through posting online, sending in submissions, completing surveys or using other social media. We have a comprehensive framework, and they are just some of the mechanisms the government uses to engage with the Canberra community.
But what is most extraordinary about the ongoing complaint from Mr Coe and his colleagues is that they criticise the government for not consulting and then they criticise the government for spending money on consultation materials. It is the height of hypocrisy to complain about consultation and then complain that the government spends money on consultation materials to assist with that consultation, to draw attention to the consultation and to invite Canberrans to have their say.
We heard Mr Coe’s critique about the light rail consultation. This is a big infrastructure project for our city. I know Mr Coe lacks the imagination and the capacity to see what this project means for our city and its future, but I also know there are thousands and thousands and thousands of Canberrans who see the potential of this project, who want to see it realised and who understand that governments have to think for the long term, not just the short term, when it comes to this type of investment.
To make sure we get it right, we have engaged in a series of consultations to date to allow Canberrans to have their say. That has included an early consultation looking at light rail integration with the broader transport network, including the locations of stops, terminals and park and ride facilities. We have undertaken consultation on early design elements, including the strategic approach we are adopting to the implementation of this infrastructure, the customer experience and the nuts and bolts of the way light rail will operate.
Right now we have public consultation underway on the urban design framework, making sure we have interpreted correctly the feedback we have heard previously, that that is integrated into the design framework we are finalising, and checking with the community that we have set the right requirements for the delivery of light rail.
These consultation exercises have been comprehensive. Obviously we have mechanisms such as the pop-up shop in the city bus station so that people can drop into a shopfront and have their say about the early elements of the designs for light rail. We have had a series of in-depth discussions through a range of stakeholder workshops, including locations at Erindale, the Tuggeranong town centre, Gungahlin and Dickson, as well as the use of social media, website-based presence, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.
We have recorded over 16,500 interactions with the community, including visits for online information, completed surveys and face-to-face discussions. This has been a very valuable exercise—16,500 interactions of one sort or another on this project alone. That is not the sign of a government that is not interested in engaging and talking with Canberrans.
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