Page 2012 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 3 June 2015
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We are investing in new infrastructure in areas such as the new suburbs of Gungahlin and Molonglo. It has not always been done in the past but we are now building our suburbs with the right infrastructure so that people do not have to go back and expensively retrofit this stuff at a later point in time. Some of these have been referred to already.
In closing some of the gaps in the network, there is the new cyclepath that we built in Bowen park, for example. At the moment there is a dirt track, which gets a bit hairy on a rainy weekend, and we will see an improved facility across what is a very popular part of Canberra. But we will also see small projects right across the city that just fix up those little black spots or problem areas that people write to TAMS about. They contact the government through Canberra Connect and say, “Can you do something about this?” The government keeps a list of these things. It seeks to prioritise them and work through the list as people identify problem areas.
We have also got work going on at the arboretum—that is something that perhaps does not sit in the suburbs but is enormously popular with people right across Canberra—including toilet and safety upgrades for the pod playground. That is coming out of next year’s budget. It is in addition to the work that is already underway that has just commenced to put up a new shade sail at the arboretum, at the pod playground. We are mindful of the requests we received for a new shade sail. That will be an upgrade to what is already an incredibly popular facility. We are also starting to see trails being built through the forests at the arboretum so that people can start to fan out more from the visitors centre as the trees grow and the arboretum takes shape. This is part of the ongoing development of this immensely popular facility.
The budget includes the installation of new fitness equipment at Yerrabi district park and Edison park. We have certainly had good feedback in recent times as TAMS has rolled out new outdoor fitness equipment centres and also created a website and resources for people to gain information on how to use the equipment. So you do not necessarily have to go to the gym. If people perhaps cannot afford a gym membership or just prefer training outdoors, the government is making sure that there is a range of opportunities available for people to keep up a fit and healthy lifestyle in their neighbourhoods.
I have already spoken about the walking and cycling infrastructure. For me, this is one of the real highlights in the budget and reflects the significantly increased commitment from the government to promoting active travel in the city. People sometimes ask, “What is active travel?” It is that idea of walking and cycling, whether it is parking your car further away and walking for the last part of your journey to get some exercise, walking to the bus stop, cycling all the way to work or combining cycling with a bus ride. The government is really working hard to make a range of options available, and that includes things like now putting the money in and sorting out the policy issues to get the installation of bike racks on the articulated and Steer-tag buses which will bring the ACTION fleet up to having 98 per cent of our buses fitted with bike racks, increasing from the current 80 per cent and particularly filling those gaps on the intertown routes.
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