Page 3480 - Week 10 - Tuesday, 17 September 2019
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It is the same story for mountain bike trails. Stromlo used to be regarded as a world-leading venue. It hosted the championships in 2009. In fact, a local mountain bike enthusiast even hand built a new track to help keep things interesting. The new trail is called the Three Amigos and is about 750 metres long. Feedback so far from riders has been overwhelmingly positive.
There is a role here for government, and this sport deserves more investment. Note what other jurisdictions are doing: New South Wales and Western Australia have realised the tourism benefits of mountain biking and have well and truly overtaken Canberra with new developments. It was great to hear Minister Rattenbury recently calling for more investment. I just hope that this is not more empty promises, as the mountain biking community deserves proper planning and recognition of their sport.
That is why I am so pleased to speak on this MPI today. Stromlo Forest Park deserves to be treated as a premier facility, one that has long-term vision and a plan for the future and one that incorporates all the different sporting needs of the local communities and the potential for sports tourism in the ACT.
The recent announcement of $200,000 to design and plan district playing fields is further evidence that the government’s approach to sport and recreation is fundamentally flawed. To spend $200,000 on just a design phase seems excessive. Pools and playing fields have been constructed elsewhere in the ACT. Surely we can leverage off that work. In my electorate of Yerrabi we have the Taylor playing fields and the construction of the home of football at Throsby. Both are major developments and hopefully with good planning and design elements that could inform the Stromlo project.
I do not understand why this government continues to waste money when they have skilled, capable public servants who could undertake this work based on previous successful models across the ACT. Also, the government have not made clear who the intended users of these playing fields will be. Which codes or clubs do they have in mind, and have they been consulted? There is a need for being open and transparent about the process, especially when spending $200,000 on design works alone.
My final point is to the question of why the government continues to undertake projects in isolation. Clearly other sport and recreation works are needed at Stromlo and across the surrounding region. It seems like a waste of time and energy to keep approaching these projects on a piecemeal basis.
We have seen the government go out to the market on accommodation options for Stromlo, and this is on top of the project for a pool, a gym, a bike track and now playing fields. If the government would stop spending taxpayers’ dollars on separate ideas and actually undertake proper holistic planning I am sure we would get better outcomes.
We should not forget the other needs of the communities in and around Stromlo. The Woden Community Council has been advocating for years for an indoor sports facility. They submitted an excellent proposal to the government, and we all waited to
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