Page 4192 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 23 October 2019
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
It is not new. Ms Le Couteur is banging on about this stuff all the time, and quite rightly. The Urban Land Institute of America released a report earlier this year on the effects of climate change and extreme heatwaves on cities and urban areas. They concluded that cities are at elevated risk from extreme temperatures because they absorb more of the sun’s energy. None of it is new to us, but it is extremely relevant to this motion. The Scorched report, as it was called, focused on the urban heat island effect. I know that Ms Le Couteur is right across it, and it is one of the reasons that she and I are particularly obsessed with trees in our city. And so we should be. We need to be.
The Scorched report tells us that land development, including the removal of trees and green space and the addition of heat-absorbing materials, is an extremely important driver of temperature change in urban areas. It is all well and good for us to carry on in here about the effects of climate change and to talk about emissions, but when we are modifying the built form of so many of our urban areas in a way that creates a genuine heat island effect, we are exacerbating any effect of climate change in our suburbs.
When you walk around Molonglo and talk to people about where they live, they cite the lack of local shops. I know that Ms Le Couteur has included this in the “notes” section of her motion, and I applaud her for it. As much as Mr Gentleman, as an inner suburban planning minister, shies away from taking any responsibility for the establishment of retail services in Molonglo, as far as the residents of Molonglo feel, it is a government failure.
We support an independent review of planning and development for the Molonglo Valley. I will be very keen to see what it delivers. I will be very keen to see what it says. Mrs Jones, as a local member, has spent a lot of time strolling around Molonglo. She is going to add a stack of firsthand information about how the locals are feeling, especially about claims that Molonglo is served well by public transport. I am not sure that that is actually the vibe in a lot of areas in Molonglo. We will be supporting this motion from Ms Le Couteur.
MRS JONES (Murrumbidgee) (10.56): I thank Ms Le Couteur for bringing this motion to the Assembly today. Development in the Molonglo Valley has disappointed many residents. Currently, the main themes include crime, lack of infrastructure, inappropriate bus routes, and threats to build out yet more of the last trees available in some suburbs. The crimes that people are experiencing in some of the suburbs of Molonglo Valley include petty theft, the theft of postal items on a regular basis, cars being stolen and homes being broken into. There is hooning and burnouts along John Gorton Drive every night of the week. Woden police station, as the minister well knows, is overstretched.
Mr Parton is right. This development has created a massive heat sink in the middle of what used to be an ageing area. A local resident told me the other day that after the bushfires and the burning of the pine forests, great brochures were put out into Weston Creek suburbs, talking about Molonglo Valley and what it was going to be like, that it was going to be a beautiful, leafy, modern, livable natural environment in which we would ask people to come and live. The reality is the exact opposite.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video