Page 2981 - Week 08 - Thursday, 15 August 2019
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democracy. I hope it continues anyway and I hope the government does a fulsome evaluation of what has been done so far, with the aim of basically a better democracy and increasing trust in our Assembly and government.
One of the quite bizarre things that were discussed at the estimates hearings—and I think it is now under this part of the government—is the Woden CIT site. It was discussed by the committee, and it suggested that there were no major barriers to using the CIT site for anything. It was just that there was some asbestos there. My daughter went to school there. The question in everybody’s mind is: how is it safer for people to be on the streets than to be in a building which, over the years, has housed literally thousands of people? I have not quite worked that one out. I am really sad that the government has lost the opportunity to do something to seriously address our homelessness problem.
The Greens are of course pleased that the government is investing more money in upgrades to Canberra’s local arts facilities and community centres, and it is really good to ensure that these facilities are equipped with up-to-date energy facilities, firstly, to reduce the cost incurred by tenants in these buildings; secondly, to ensure that these are fit for purpose for the organisations that use them; and, thirdly, to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, because they all reduce energy use.
I particularly welcome the nearly $1 million of upgrades to the Canberra Theatre over the next two years, but even more exciting than that are the plans for expansion of the Canberra Theatre into—I am not quite sure how best to describe it—what I would call the MLAs’ car park. I am sure that that is not its official name. I certainly urge the government to use as much of that car park as is needed for the theatre and to ensure that there is good public transport—maybe a part-time showtime bus or tram stop there so that theatre-goers do not need to drive and there are not people saying, “We have to keep the car park so that the theatre will be viable.” This is where, harking back to yesterday’s debate, longer hours for public transport are very good. That means that you can take public transport to the theatre, to the movies, to go out at night.
It also exciting that the Kingston arts precinct looks like it may finally be built. It has been a long time coming, and I very much hope it is going to be worth the wait and that all the heritage and governance issues of the precinct will be successfully resolved. I am also very pleased to see the government’s support, including in my electorate, for the community arts associated with the Woden experiment.
In summary, there are lots of things in this that we welcome. But there is a lot more work to be done and number one is climate change.
MRS DUNNE (Ginninderra) (11.10): Recently the statistics working group of a meeting of cultural ministers, under the auspices of COAG, released a communique outlining cultural funding by governments for the year 2017-18. The communique made for interesting reading, for it showed how the spending by states and territories has changed over the three years to 2017-18. It showed, for example, that the growth in the ACT government’s cultural expenditure, which includes arts and heritage, was static from 2015-16 to 2016-17. The ACT is the only jurisdiction in Australia whose
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