Page 840 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 21 March 2018

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(b) Waramanga shops has no playground;

(d) the benefit to Waramanga and the broader Weston Creek community that would come from a new playground at the Waramanga shops;

(e) the Waramanga community has put forward a comprehensive proposal for a playground at Waramanga shops;

(f) the significant community consultation and petition conducted by the Waramanga community;

(g) the mixed signals about the proposal from the ACT Government; and

(h) the 50^th Anniversary of Waramanga in 2018; and

(2) calls on the ACT Government to work with the Waramanga community to progress the establishment of a new Waramanga playground in the 2018-19 budget.

I must be spending too much time with Mrs Jones. I know that she has been passionate about playgrounds for a long time, particularly in Murrumbidgee. I must have caught the bug. But this one is not just any playground. This is something that gives me great delight to talk about in the Assembly today, because it is not actually Mrs Jones’s idea; it is not my idea; this is a genuine proposal that has come from the community.

The Waramanga community has got together some very keen advocates. Two of them are here in the Assembly today. I recognise Elizabeth and Dan. It is great to see them here. They have done the work. They have come here to the Assembly. They have worked through the parliamentary processes through to the minister to put forward a proposal. They have done the hard work and I commend them for it.

As my motion says, playgrounds provide a very important facility in communities for families. Currently, Waramanga has no adequate playground. There are playgrounds within Waramanga. I have been out and visited them, as I know Mrs Jones has. They are small, they are old and they are not servicing the community. At the shops, where people congregate, there is also no playground.

Waramanga is not on its own. I am sure those opposite will mention the fact that there are other suburbs and other shops that need playgrounds. I could not agree more. Just because we are saying that we should do this in Waramanga does not exclude other good proposals coming forward from Torrens, Farrer and other places.

There is a great benefit that will come from this. I will quote from the submission, because it is an excellent one. It also comes with a design for the playground. I will go to that later. There has also been a lot of consultation and a petition. However, sadly, what we have had is mixed signals from the government and from the Greens about what this proposal means.

What I am trying to do today is get some clarity, move this proposal forward, get it done. That is why we have said that we should work with the community, get this in the budget and get it built to coincide with what is, this year, the 50th anniversary of

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