Page 4679 - Week 12 - Thursday, 1 November 2018
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happening as I speak in my neighbourhood on an informal basis. There are a couple of gardens which are on our unleased territory land producing greens and other things. There could be a lot more of this.
There also could be a lot more community gardens. Currently, there are a measly 3.65 hectares across the ACT, which is very little. I would like to see all reasonable-scale multi-unit developments include a community garden. That is something the Greens have been pushing from a planning point of view for a long time, as well as having them on transport routes so that you can get to them. They should be in places where there is access to water and toilets, and possibly even electricity, but certainly water and toilets.
These spaces in greenfield areas should be reserved at the outset. We are building a lot more densely than we used to. We are not building on quarter-acre blocks anymore, where people had lots and lots of space for gardens. We need to set aside space for gardens, if we are to have them. Those of us who have had the opportunity and the pleasure of being able to garden in Canberra will know that over the summer months it is quite feasible to be self-sufficient in vegetables.
In fact, reminiscing a bit, I grew up in Canberra, and in the early days everybody had their own veggie garden because there really was no alternative. The alternative came once a week from Sydney in a truck. In those days trucks took all day to get from Sydney and were not refrigerated, so the potatoes and pumpkins were fine but there really was not much else in the way of veggies that survived the trip from the Sydney market to Canberra to be sold. Everybody, rich or poor, if they were on a quarter-acre block, gardened. They had fruit trees, and they grew their tomatoes and their veggies. While many of us do not have as much space as people did then, you do not actually need a lot of space to make a difference. We need to make the best use of the spaces in our suburban areas. It is also great for people’s mental health as well as their physical health.
Another issue that is really important, and which I spoke about in an MPI last year, is honey bee security. We now have registration of beekeepers, but we need to look at reducing pesticide use, particularly neonics, which have been demonstrated to do very bad things to insects, and in particular bees. We need to make sure there is bee habitat; we need to plant bee-friendly plants and reduce monocultures, which are generally not good for bees. And we need to watch out for bee deserts, particularly in new suburbs, where there is nothing that any bee could consume.
We need to support and invest in community gardening. I will mention a few here. The City Farm—I will give a little plug for that—are having their open day next weekend. They provide people with practical and tangible education about food and how you can grow it here in our environment. They are also practical, engaging and nice places to visit. These, of course, apart from their food benefits, have the possibility of increasing tourism, creating jobs and supporting food security.
As well as the City Farm, Lyneham Commons comes to mind. They are revitalising an existing space which was basically full of weeds beforehand. It now has fruit and
nut trees as well as many ground cover plants and natives, which will grow for decades to come.
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