Page 2371 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 31 July 2018
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The members of the forum will be a representative cross-section of the Canberra community. There will be up to 65 members of the play spaces forum, including original members of the better suburbs citizens forum, which will have already met for four days to create a better suburbs statement for Canberra; up to 10 additional members with a particular interest in play spaces, including parents whose children love using our playgrounds; and representatives from stakeholder organisations such as non-profit and community organisations and community councils.
In order to be ready to make decisions at the forum, members will be provided with information about the role of the play spaces forum and decisions they will be making; the primary challenges relating to the management of play spaces across Canberra; how play spaces are currently prioritised and how decisions on play spaces are currently made; research and evidence on best practice in play spaces and their value to children’s development and enhancing community; community feedback on the quality and importance of play spaces; and changes in urban growth and demand and how these drivers affect the need for play spaces.
Importantly, the play spaces forum will aim to identify community criteria for allocating funds towards play spaces and make recommendations on how the community and government could work together into the future to ensure that playgrounds are provided equitably and located conveniently.
Through the forum the better suburbs team will facilitate a process to allocate funding for a range of different play spaces and outcomes. I am pleased to confirm that Waramanga, along with Farrer, Torrens and Higgins, will be included in this process, in recognition of the community-led advocacy for consideration of improved play spaces in these suburbs. Representatives of petition groups from each of these suburbs will be invited to present to the forum as part of a panel. Each group will be allocated time to present the criteria they believe should be used to determine play space priorities and why they believe their specific request is important.
I commend the process I have outlined, which addresses comprehensively the government’s response to this Assembly motion. It is important to remember that other communities also would like new playgrounds or upgrades, so this process will give an opportunity for community-based groups to pitch their ideas and for those ideas to be considered in a broader context.
It will enable direct participation by the community in allocating real resources to play spaces in the current financial year, through a participatory budgeting mechanism, and it will respond to community concerns and requests in a systematic and thoughtful manner that not only addresses issues of immediate concern but, importantly, provides a mechanism for ongoing community engagement and dialogue.
I am proud that this will be the first time we will have such a mechanism in place to understand and meet the changing needs of our community in relation to the provision and management of our play spaces. I look forward to seeing the outcomes very soon.
I present a copy of the statement:
Waramanga—Provision of a playground—Ministerial statement, 31 July 2018.
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