Page 3445 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 22 August 2018

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Question put:

That Mr Rattenbury’s amendment, as amended, be agreed to.

The Assembly voted—

Amendment, as amended, agreed to.

Original question, as amended, resolved in the affirmative.

Local shopping precincts—maintenance

MS LEE (Kurrajong) (3.46): I move:

That this Assembly:

(1) notes that:

(a) suburban shops play an essential role in local Canberra communities offering a wide range of food, beverages, dining options and community health services;

(b) local shop owners are small business operators who work long hours to ensure quality service, flexibility of opening hours and choice for local residents;

(c) a large number of shopping areas are poorly lit, run down, the target of graffiti vandals and lacking basic and regular maintenance;

(d) many local shops lack appropriate parking spaces and policing of parking infringements; and

(e) too few local shops have appropriately maintained and working toilets, sufficient seating and shade areas; and

(2) calls on the ACT Government to establish and publish a schedule of regular maintenance of local shops and report on the budget allocation for such maintenance by the end of the sitting period in October 2018.

Madam Speaker, when you think of your local shops, the shops you go to to grab a paper, coffee or your favourite takeaway, or perhaps to visit your GP or to pick up your dry-cleaning, you want to think of a warm friendly place, a convenient place, a place where you get to know the shopkeepers by first name. Nostalgic, perhaps, of times gone by, but there is a reason why in Canberra most suburbs have a local shop even when bigger shopping centres and precincts are pretty close by and, on any objective measure, would provide a convenient go-to for everything you need.

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