Page 344 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 10 February 2021

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The Clerk having announced that the terms of the petition would be recorded in Hansard and referred to the appropriate ministers for response pursuant to standing order 100, the petition was received.

Motion to take note of petition

MADAM SPEAKER: Pursuant to standing order 98A, I propose the question:

That the petition so lodged be noted.

MS ORR (Yerrabi) (10.02): I rise to speak to a petition which I have sponsored on behalf of Paul Calvert and the Giralang community. This year will mark the 16th year that the Giralang community has been without shops in their suburb. When I was growing up in Giralang, the shops near the school included a hairdresser, a Vietnamese restaurant, a baker, a newsagency, a supermarket, a tavern, a VHS video store and a fish and chip shop. It was a great little community hub within walking distance of every residence in the suburb.

Since the shops were vacated by those tenants, they have sat bare, been demolished and currently sit in a state of initial but not completed build. This is after years of court cases, stop-starts on the building, and the promise in 2018 of an approved DA for a new development. This could once again be a great community hub and a convenient facility for the community. This is particularly important, as many of the residents of Giralang are getting older but want to be able to age in place.

Since this petition started, we have heard from what feels like all of Giralang, and they are unanimous that they want something to happen. The community has not had an update from the developer in close to a year, and in that update the developer noted he could not secure a supermarket, the deposits for the apartments would be handed back and a rethink of the development would have to happen. Since then no further update has come to the community, despite being requested many times.

The community just wants to know what is happening, which is why 585 residents and supporters have signed this physical petition and 321 have signed online, making a total of 906 signatures, which is a number equal to almost a third of Giralang residents, and almost every household. I note that almost every signature is from a Giralang resident, with a few family members who grew up there having been put in for good measure.

I want to thank Paul for putting together this petition, and everyone who has signed it. I would like particularly to acknowledge the residents who got their neighbours and friends to sign. I ask that whichever committee to which this petition is referred inquire into the issue and ask the questions that the Giralang community wants answers to.

MS CASTLEY (Yerrabi) (10.04): I thank Ms Orr for kicking off this petition. As a former resident of Giralang, I completely understand the frustrations of the community, and would welcome any help in this area to get the site cleaned up and restore some order in the area.


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