Page 1033 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 20 April 1994
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I accept that not all residents will have a chance to have that say, partly because they might not be interested, partly because they might not be residents of the street when the planting goes ahead; but it makes a lot of sense to offer that kind of input. I believe that the mechanisms would not be onerous and would be a valuable part of a process of ensuring that our governments and the contractors and developers who work under them have some affinity with the people who are receiving the end product. If we can achieve that outcome, we can make people happier in these new settings and I think we will have achieved something important. I hope that the Government and the Independent members will support this motion and that it will lead the Government to consider seriously what kinds of mechanisms it might put in place to produce that cooperation.
MS ELLIS (11.23): I think it is fair to say that we all want to see the new suburbs in Canberra receiving the benefit of mature growth in their street trees as soon as possible. When you look at the new areas and compare the very stark difference between those and the mature growth in the older areas, you can see immediately the advantages in having mature trees in the streets.
Through the Planning, Development and Infrastructure Committee, I had the advantage on one of our trips interstate of having discussions with some developers, who put at rest some queries that were being made evident to us here in the ACT relating to how early you can plant street trees. One of the biggest issues that appeared to be a bone of contention was the view locally that in developing a new area you could not plant street trees any earlier than the completion of the infrastructure development in that suburb, and in most cases even the development of the housing, because of the damage the newly planted trees might suffer from trucks and machinery. On our interstate trip, the PDI Committee saw very good examples of how that can be worked around. Developers who have the interest of the developing suburb in mind were successfully planting street trees very early in the development. I was very impressed by the achievement.
We know that new suburbs in some areas of Tuggeranong can fill up quickly; but, overall, it does take a while for houses to be built and then for people to move in in a new suburban development. It may be all very well for the first one or two households who move in to have some consultation on their choice of street trees, but the people who come in later would not have that same choice; it would have been made for them. By the same token, with proper botanical advice and with proper consultation and regard for the historical planting of street trees in the ACT, I am of the view that any responsible developer of an urban area could move in very early and plant trees that are suitable for the area, suitable for the size of the streets, suitable for the size of the blocks, and get growth going very early. The advantages to the new suburban area of doing that, I believe, are huge. As I said earlier, you only have to see the comparison between the starkness of the new areas and the more developed areas to get that message.
The other thing about Mr Humphries's motion that concerns me, and I have referred to it briefly already, is how and when you consult and with whom. I am speaking here specifically of the new suburbs. How do you measure when the consultation process should take place? Is it when 25 per cent of the suburb is inhabited? Is it when six out of the 10 houses that will be in the street are inhabited? When do you decide to do that?
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