Page 1034 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 20 April 1994
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Do you wait until everybody is there? I think it is a vexed question for Mr Humphries to face. I understand the motive in his motion, and it is an honourable motive, trying to do the right thing; but I think it is taking the need for consultation a teeny bit too far, to a point where it would be, in my view, unworkable.
The beauty of urban Canberra is its mixed treescape. I was talking to Mr Wood a moment ago about a street in Forrest - I think it is Dampier Crescent. It is a very wide street, if I have the right one by name. The eucalypts in that street are magnificent; they feature in brochures showing Canberra at its best. Any innuendo that eucalypts are unacceptable can be put down immediately by taking that street as an example, but it is probably one of the best examples you could wish to see. There are other streets in this Territory where you will see magnificent large deciduous non-native trees, and they are just as gracious in the suburb and the setting in which they grow.
We have some expertise in this town in our parks and conservation area. We certainly have an awareness as a community of the advantages to be gained by good choice in the planting of street trees. The emphasis should be more on preserving and conserving and progressing that attitude than on being prescriptive and saying, "We do not want gums here; we want such and such". For all I know, what they want may not suit their particular area. When you consider block size, street size and general lie of the land, there are some very good plantings and some not so good plantings in a lot of areas, although not necessarily in Canberra. The PDI Committee had the great advantage of seeing exactly what can be done in that respect.
Mr Humphries needs to consider more carefully the upshot of his motion rather than the intent. I understand the intent, but I do not think the motion will achieve what he wishes. I would much rather see in the new areas of Gungahlin - the new areas of Tuggeranong did not have this - a move towards the earliest possible planting of street trees. When the people move into that suburb they will have a feeling of settling, a feeling of landscape, a feeling of promotion of the beauty around their homes, and an encouragement to do more in their own gardens. I would much rather see that occurring than have people sitting on their hands waiting for this indefinite period, which has not been clarified, when consultation takes place. If we consider the issue along those lines rather than in the way I interpret the motion, I would be fairly confident of a much better outcome.
MR DEPUTY SPEAKER: Most appropriately, I now call the Minister for the Environment, Land and Planning, Mr Wood, on this matter.
MR WOOD (Minister for Education and Training, Minister for the Arts and Minister for the Environment, Land and Planning) (11.30): Yes, it certainly is appropriate, Mr Deputy Speaker. The other day, as Mr Westende knows, I was a guest of the Wood Heating Association, and it was a very pleasant occasion. It is the case that the Government seeks at every possible opportunity to consult the people of Canberra on matters that affect them. There is a very distinguished record attached to that principle. We do first seek to involve the community. Mr Humphries acknowledged that in the circumstances that apply in tree plantings that is not always the case.
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