Page 2726 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 15 August 2017
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government has finally decided to do something. The opposition hopes that the government will commit to taking on board the thoughts and opinions of Canberrans and produce a plan that is reflective of community ideas and expectations.
Finally, I would like to speak on the transfer of the city centre marketing and improvement levy from In The City Canberra to CRA. This decision was only made by the government in June. It has blindsided In the City Canberra by stripping them of their funding. In the City Canberra was formed to address the government’s own failings—that is, to maintain and promote the city centre. Just a few of the events In the City Canberra has sponsored include the Multicultural Festival, Skate in the City, Christmas in the City, the curry festival, Ramadan in the city and the Chinese Moon Festival. They have also supplemented the maintenance of the city centre by removing graffiti from buildings, refurbishing artwork, installing waste enclosures and bike racks, and providing the funds for refurbishment and the construction of West Row Park.
When questioned at estimates, the government made no commitment to continue this work. In a few months, In the City Canberra will cease to receive funding. The residents and businesses deserve clarity on how the levy will be spent to improve their surrounds. While there has been an occasional critic of the state of the city, the supplementary municipal works of In the City Canberra do make a difference to people’s enjoyment of the space. There is no additional expenditure in the budget to offset the loss of this service and no pledge by the government to continue these much-needed additional urban services.
We have yet to see evidence that integrity has been incorporated into the CRA by virtue of a name change. Not only that; we are still eagerly awaiting the announcement on who the government is going to appoint to some of the senior management positions. I note that even as recently as a couple of weeks ago they were still advertising for a CEO, despite the fact that the government said back in May that they needed to rush through the legislation urgently so that they could hire a CEO. Here we are, still waiting. The Canberra Liberals support wise and measured spending that demonstrates value for money. However, we have real concerns that the culture that existed in the LDA may well continue in its successor organisations as well.
MS LE COUTEUR (Murrumbidgee) (5.26): The Greens have supported the creation of the CRA and the SLA. Given all the issues with their predecessor, clearly change was needed. We are very positive about the idea of the CRA as a group, an organisation, which effectively can curate the development down the central part of Canberra with light rail stage 1. We think that for light rail stage 1 to reach its full potential it needs some real care, love and attention. I think that is basically why the CRA has remained under the oversight of the Chief Minister. It is clearly an area that he is very involved with, and I think that is great.
I would, however, say that the rest of Canberra also needs care, love and attention. We have the Suburban Land Agency, but not all of the rest of Canberra is suburban. I think that the name is kind of showing the government’s priorities. We hopefully will have light rail stage 2 going to Woden. Woden is the first town centre outside Civic. It also will require considerable love and attention to make it flourish again.
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