Page 4183 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 23 October 2019

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(f) housing diversity is better than many previous Canberra suburbs, however Molonglo Valley residents lack key community amenities required for social sustainability, including local shops and low-cost land for community groups such as scouts and guides, religious and multicultural groups;

(g) to date, good public transport services have been delivered in the Molonglo Valley as soon as new homes are occupied, and local streets have good footpaths, but the Molonglo Valley suffers from very indirect off-road cycling connections to the City and Belconnen; and

(h) despite the new suburb of Whitlam being two kilometres from the nearest schools and shops, planning for Whitlam will see residents move in at least two years before schools and shops are built, however there is no commitment to providing a bus service to Whitlam to connect early residents to services; and

(2) calls on the ACT Government to:

(a) commission an independent review of planning and development for the Molonglo Valley that examines:

(i) whether Molonglo development is achieving excellence in sustainable design;

(ii) the matters raised in part (1); and

(iii) what actions are required to deliver excellence in sustainable design, including on environmental, social and transport sustainability;

(b) provide the final report of the review to the Assembly by 31 May 2020; and

My motion today is for the current residents of Molonglo who email me and talk to me at events and meetings. But it is also for the future residents of Molonglo and the rest of Canberra who will hopefully benefit from the lessons learnt about what has happened in Molonglo.

The development of the Molonglo Valley has, of course, some good points. There have been bus services from day one, and this is showing up with excellent patronage on our bus system from there. There are good footpaths. There is better diversity of housing compared to many earlier suburbs, and this is attracting a diverse population, from older people through to younger singles and couples.

But there have also been some very basic problems. For example, almost nine years after the first land release in Coombs and Wright they still have no local supermarket and no functioning local shopping centre. This is something that makes the local community very frustrated because of course it impacts on their life. If you run out of bread, milk, or want a haircut or anything, you have to drive to Cooleman Court, or you may be able to go to the new Denman Prospect shops. But they are both 3½ kilometres from the centre of Coombs and Wright. It impacts, of course, on the people of Weston as well because Cooleman Court is struggling to cope with the extra patronage from the people of Molonglo. This has led to the very controversial proposal to turn treed green space into more car parking.

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