Page 2053 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 6 June 2018
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through our approach to helping people move into their new communities. It would be too easy to say and to think that the City Renewal Authority and the Suburban Land Agency are just there to release land. I point to the work each is doing to build and enhance our local community.
The SLA in particular is working closely with communities in my electorate, like Moncrieff and Throsby, through the mingle program. This budget builds on this by providing more services for our suburbs. We are providing $10 million more to improve our city services. This will provide additional services for mowing, weeding, graffiti removal, cleaning up local waterways and tree trimming. In Yerrabi, $1.7 million will go towards improving the Nicholls neighbourhood oval and we are expanding our major events with $7.6 million in funding.
What I often hear when I am out in the electorate is that the Gungahlin town centre lacks adequate green spaces. In April I hosted the making space initiative here in the Assembly reception room. The event brought together MLAs, public servants, students, the built environment professions, community groups and the general public to better understand how we use our city and how we can better plan for its use.
At the event we heard from Louise, who works in the early childhood development profession. The organisation she works for operates an early learning centre in the Gungahlin town centre. Louise spoke about the lack of green space in the town centre for her staff and students at the centre.
We understand this and are taking steps to reimagine and reinvent the town centre. We have already announced a revamp of Gungahlin Place, which will see more greenery and play spaces added. As has been noted, this year’s budget will also be planting an additional 1,333 trees across Canberra.
I note that Ms Lawder made a lot of comments particularly about Gungahlin. I would like to take this opportunity to address some of those. The 1,330 trees are in addition to business as usual. It will be targeting those newer suburbs where we know that we can improve the tree canopy. Particular comments were made about Gungahlin and the heat island effect. It is not a secret that the heat island effect is greater in Gungahlin but that is for a range of reasons, not just the tree coverage. A large part of it is also due to the grasslands that we have out there—grasslands that were protected as a part of planning processes.
I also note the fact that large parts of Gungahlin were established during a drought, meaning that the tree canopy and other green spaces that were put in place actually have not taken quite as well as we would have liked. There is also an issue there of climate change coming and of matching our species with our changing climate. All of these are factors in making sure that we address the urban heat island effect across all of Canberra and in particular in Gungahlin where we know that there is a little more work to do. But I note that the government is getting on with doing that and that every contribution we make towards it will be a positive.
As the Gungahlin town centre moves eastward, we are also putting into practice what we have learned. My office is currently running consultation on the Gungahlin town
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