Page 3641 - Week 10 - Tuesday, 18 September 2018
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Canberra’s lakes, ponds, wetlands and stormwater systems were deemed the highest priority and most urgent of the 14 city services discussed at the forum. This reflects the immense value placed by our community on healthy waterways, effective stormwater management, climate change and drought management.
The forum emphasised that, by focusing on this priority, government can invest in and improve street sweeping technologies, new water harvesting systems and upgrades to existing water infrastructure, particularly to manage large volumes of stormwater run-off due to urban densification in our growing city. The forum expressed a deep commitment to this priority and recommended a boost in community awareness and education to prevent the pollution of our waterways and to reduce the need for cleaning of our lakes and ponds.
The second priority service statement brought forward by the better suburbs forum was street and park trees, which we know is a common theme in many constituent inquiries across Canberra. The recommendation put forward by the forum focuses on changing the ways in which we manage Canberra’s urban forest to become more sustainable, safe, resilient and beneficial to the health and wellbeing of the Canberra community.
The forum took this one step further by recommending a canopy coverage target of 30 percent by 2030. As with the water quality priority statement, the forum agreed that this target can only be met with community involvement, such as through public education or directly through Landcare groups to plant new trees. This is a positive and promising recommendation which will further emphasise the importance of government and community partnerships in collaboration to reach short and long-term goals.
I am also pleased to be able to say that the community will be hearing more soon about our work in the urban forest space and how people can contribute to ideas to improve our urban forest outcomes and shape the future of tree management and protection across Canberra. Acting on the actions identified in this statement and being committed to the visions set by the citizens forum is a high priority for me as the Minister for City Services.
Also ranking at second place was the priority statement for better management of household waste and recycling. This is also an important issue that has in recent months reached the forefront of many public discussions and media coverage. This priority reflects that Canberrans are keen on working with government to improve household waste management and recycling through identifying efficiencies and new processes for dealing with organic, green and bulky waste.
However, this priority also extends beyond the household and into the public realm. It is clear the community is conscious of the ripple effects of illegal dumping and waste management issues more broadly across the territory. The forum agreed that far-reaching benefits can be achieved by improving government capacity for compliance activity against illegal dumping offenders.
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