Page 4604 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 31 October 2018
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celebrate Belconnen and Belconnen businesses and to identify any things that needed improving. So last year when we had the community cabinet in Belconnen, I called on the ACT government to consider hosting this Belconnen showcase. I was very pleased to get that commitment earlier this year, which resulted in the October showcase.
It was fantastic to see it truly come to life. Day one, Wednesday, began with the Canberra Innovation Network’s First Wednesday Connect. That was an opportunity to talk about the innovation side of things in Belconnen. It was hosted at the University of Canberra, which is leading the way in innovation. People were able to give one-minute pitches about different exciting things that they are doing and businesses that they are thinking of creating, and to network with each other in that environment. So the theme of day one was innovation.
Day two was about doing business in Belconnen. We partnered with the Canberra Business Chamber, who hosted sessions in the morning and in the afternoon with a range of Belconnen businesses, from small businesses like small accounting firms right up to some of the bigger players like Westfield Belconnen and the Lighthouse, although perhaps the Lighthouse is just big in my mind.
It was really important to have people coming together, talking about what it is like to do business and some of the things that they did not know were going on in the town centre, and to bring the master plan to those businesses as well. It has become apparent to me out of that consultation that we need to do a bit more to connect with businesses there and to bring all the government initiatives to them, and to get their feedback very directly as well. I am very much looking forward to working with businesses on that in the future.
Day three was the highlight, of course: a celebration with the Belconnen Twilight Market. I will put on the record my thanks to the organiser, Damian Haas, who is also the deputy chair of the Belconnen Community Council. They had a very big role to play there as well. Margaret Timpson Park is often thought of as being underutilised and just a bit of a thoroughfare between the library, the Lighthouse and Westfield Belconnen. It was incredible to see this humble park that I usually think of being as quite a small park absolutely brought to life with over 70 stallholders, 50 of them with a very strong Belconnen connection. This apolitical event was just thronging with people. We believe that a conservative estimate is that about 2,000 people came, even though the weather turned atrocious despite being quite perfect earlier that week.
I was very pleased to be able to host a photo competition about Belconnen town centre. The winning photo was by a bloke called Davey Barber. He took an absolutely magnificent shot of a man going to work as a bus driver in Belconnen. And it turned out many days later that I actually knew that man and I was able to give him a copy of that photo. All in all, the Belconnen showcase was tops.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
The Assembly adjourned at 5.46 pm.
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