Page 4028 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 20 September 2017
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
One of the important things is that local communities can work well with TCCS. I am aware of a few examples where local communities are trying to help their local area and they do not get supported; they are unsupported. The most obvious example in my electorate is Farrer. Members are probably aware—it has been discussed and there has been a petition about it in the Assembly—that the proprietor of the cafe there, the Fox and Bow, put up a basketball hoop. It was there for a few months, somebody complained about it and it had a big sticker put on it. It was something that was only doing good for the community, and I would urge TCCS to think of better ways of doing this so that people who are doing low risk, good things for their community are not affected.
At 6 pm, in accordance with standing order 34, the debate was interrupted. The motion for the adjournment of the Assembly having been put and negatived, the debate was resumed.
MS LE COUTEUR: Another thing to talk about is the environmental sustainability role of city services. Climate change is one of the reasons that we have so many issues here, particularly with maintenance of trees. Our urban forest is, in some instances, in a very poor condition. If it rains, we have a lot of grass to mow. We need our green canopy. We need biodiversity within our city to keep our bush capital green. Population growth is mentioned in Ms Orr’s motion. It is important to be clear that this is a mixed blessing and we cannot just say that it is a given. We need to look at equity and long-term sustainability with respect to population growth.
Another thing that is important, on this and other issues, is that the government actually follows through with commitments—commitments made an election ago or two elections ago. I have spoken to many people about commitments that have been made on Stromlo park. The swimming pool has been promised many times, just as the Gungahlin swimming pool was promised many times. I hope that the resource prioritisation approach from the better suburbs program will help local communities to better understand the territory-wide programs, like the local shop upgrades, so that they can more effectively advocate for the things that really matter to them. I commend Ms Orr for this motion. It is a really important matter and it is well worth the Assembly’s attention.
MR STEEL (Murrumbidgee) (6.02): I start by thanking Ms Orr for bringing this motion forward. Our government went to the election last year with a positive plan to renew our neighbourhoods, to take care of the suburbs we love and make them even better. Our suburbs are some of the most livable in Australia, and our government wants to make sure that this continues as our city grows, supporting urban regeneration in our established suburbs and extending quality city services to our new suburbs as well. Today I want to talk about the important work the government is undertaking to build better suburbs and what the government is doing to ensure that the community has a greater say in our city services settings over the long term.
Our government is investing in better roads throughout the ACT, building new roads and resurfacing more than one million square metres per year of existing roads. In my electorate of Murrumbidgee, road resurfacing works in Phillip at the Melrose Drive
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video