Page 3977 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 30 October 2013
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The draft plan also looks to connect the city centre to the lake, the foreshore of one of our capital’s greatest features: the views of the lake and across the lake to the national institutions and the Brindabellas, to the High Court, the National Gallery, the National Museum, those wonderful national institutions. It is an area barely visited and little seen at night, except from cars crossing Commonwealth Avenue bridge.
The city to the lake plan will add another dimension to the city which has largely turned its back on the lake. The added features of the Australia forum, the indoor stadium, a new aquatic facility and restaurants, bars, new performance spaces, playgrounds and promenades will draw people from across Canberra to enjoy our beautiful, dynamic city heart.
One aspiration which could be drawn from the recent Planning Institute of Australia’s congress which was held here in Canberra back in March is the presentation of Dr Susan Parham, who is Head of Urbanism at the University of Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom. She particularly talked about the role of food-centred planning in urban design, not just about cafes and supermarkets and gardens but also about fresh food markets, food equipment supplies and cooking schools—all those things that are getting people to talk and think about food. When you think back through human history and the development of cities, it is with food at the centre. This is what has originated cities. And it is something in our 21st century we should go back to and think about how we can incorporate that into our modern city vision.
The city plan is a visionary blueprint for our city’s centre for our second century. I urge Canberrans to have their say on the draft plan and share the excitement I feel about it.
MR BARR (Molonglo—Deputy Chief Minister, Treasurer, Minister for Economic Development, Minister for Sport and Recreation, Minister for Tourism and Events and Minister for Community Services) (11.59): I thank Ms Berry for bringing this motion forward today. I thought I would adopt a slightly unusual approach in speaking to the motion and project forward a couple of decades to imagine Canberra in 2033 looking back on the last 20 years following the adoption of the city plan and the successful delivery of the city to the lake project in tandem with the rollout of capital metro.
Our city has matured to become a truly great city, one of the most progressive, liveable and sustainable cities in the world. It has done this whilst retaining its memorable landscape identity with wonderful parks, gardens and tree-lined streets. We look back over two decades and see how transformative these initiatives have been for our city—the strategic investments in public infrastructure, public domain, the cultural and recreational facilities that have unlocked huge private investment. Canberra has proved to itself that once a city imagines a desirable future and puts in place the settings to achieve this future, it is extraordinary how quickly change can occur.
Working in partnership with the private sector, all Canberrans have been key contributors to this transformation. We have become much more a master of our own
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