Page 3643 - Week 10 - Tuesday, 18 September 2018
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the months to come. In particular, we are keen to explore how the priorities outlined in the better suburbs statement align or otherwise with the current actual allocation of resources within the city services budget.
One practical way to give effect to the insights and feedback of the forum would be to move towards a proportional allocation of funding in this portfolio area that reflects the priorities identified by the community. This is something I will be advocating for as the government is making decisions in this area in the future in our budget process.
When reading over the better suburbs statement 2030 it does not take long to understand the immense benefits of including our very insightful and passionate Canberra community in the process of government problem-solving and decision-making. I believe this forum is part of a new phase in community decision-making in Canberra where people come together to discuss, consider and plan the issues that affect their daily lives.
This participatory democracy exercise closes the space between government and the community. We are all part of this community and we should all have a genuine say in the decisions that affect us. Many of the forum members are here today in the gallery to see this statement being tabled, and I will read the introduction the forum members wrote in the better suburbs statement.
We came together over three weekends, 54 of us from across Canberra.
Some walked, some cycled, some of us car pooled.
We immersed ourselves in the work that Transport Canberra and City Services (TCCS) undertakes everyday to improve our lives as citizens. We committed our time, energy and passion to share our ideas about how we can make our suburbs better.
There was butchers paper. There was great debate—not always with agreement. There were scones.
We were brought together in our commitment and love for our city. We recognise we are a small representation of people from across our city. We are honoured to have contributed in this way.
I personally thank members of the citizens forum for their contribution, particularly those who are in attendance today as well. It does not take long to recognise the varied and complex nature of the work our city services area of government is responsible for undertaking.
I was pleased to see the forum recognise that city services does a wonderful job in maintaining and improving assets across all of its service areas. I recognise that there are areas we can improve on in terms of efficiency and integration. Responding to community complaints and being more strategic and collaborative across government and our community is also a strong theme in the statement, and I am certainly committed to acting on this.
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