Page 1185 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 20 March 2013
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
Instead of that situation, what we have in some shops is an opportunity for things like drug dealing at night time. Hanging around local shops we have people that might make the average mum feel a little uneasy. We might have a lack of lighting. There is graffiti. People do not enjoy being there. People are being repelled, and local business owners are suffering as a result.
Minister Corbell in this place yesterday said that shops are deteriorating. I think every Canberran knows this to be the fact. Minister Corbell said about his change to the size of shopping centres that was discussed yesterday:
This change is important because local centres cater largely to the residents of a single suburb and there is no doubt that some of our local centres in recent years have been suffering from decline, at least some of which can be attributed to competition from larger supermarket chains, affecting the viability of local centres.
But I would add that, even in other cities where there are very small shopping centres that do not perhaps have as natural a clientele as the suburban, little shopping centres that we have in Canberra, there has been urban renewal, and renewal of shopping centres has actually created a change which has allowed for a more vibrant community atmosphere.
Let us look at a few examples. At Rivett, my local shops, there is bird manure, vacant shops, graffiti, an unused petrol station site and desperate need of a repaint. The Duffy shops are dilapidated, depressing, there is not enough car parking and another unused petrol station. There is still not enough parking at Weston Creek group centre, although I do understand that there is a plan to address that. I am sure it will be slow.
I am also very concerned about the new Molonglo suburb. It does tend to take a long time to get things done and I do understand that it takes a long time to get things done but people do get frustrated in the meantime. There is a real fear in Weston Creek about the number of new people who will be parking at the shopping centre there because of the building of a new estate. And we want the new estate. It is going to be fantastic to have new houses in the area. It is going to be fantastic, all the things that will be built there, but in the meantime there is a great fear that it is already difficult to find a park and that is only going to get worse.
At Hughes shops there is a car park full of potholes, apparently. There is not enough lighting. People feel unsafe. Yarralumla shops have car parking issues. Narrabundah shops do not have enough car parking because of the four restaurants that are there. Especially at night time, people are not sure where they are supposed to park. It can be difficult if a restaurant has a seating capacity for 60 and there are only about 20 car parks nearby. It does make it difficult for those businesses as well. People do feel unsafe around Narrabundah shops at times. I have been warned off going there. And I think a lot of that has to do with the look and the feel of the place. It can be improved with some effort.
Amaroo does not even have shops. The first house was built in Amaroo almost 20 years ago, and there are still no shops. There is a vacant lot where the shops are
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video