Page 2833 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 17 September 2014
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For me, the Canberra Centre is a really interesting part of that dynamic. The Canberra Centre is generally bustling almost all of the time you go in there. That is what we want to see in City Walk. There are constant crowds of people in there. That probably speaks to the quality of the offer in terms of the shops, the space and the dynamic. At the same time, it is my personal view that the way the Canberra Centre has been designed has a very significant impact on the rest of the city.
The Canberra Centre is designed to be a drive-in facility. It is designed in a way—wherever the car parks are placed—that you drive in, park in those car parks and then stay inside the Canberra Centre; you do not go further necessarily. It is a very deliberate commercial decision on the part of the operators of the Canberra Centre. In my view, there can be little doubt that that has had an impact on the rest of the city. In that facility there is essentially a wall between the parking facilities and the rest of the city, and that is a real challenge.
My understanding from the work that has been done and the surveys that have been done—and Mr Coe made some commentary about the parking—is that there are plenty of parking spaces available. The surveys, I understand, show that the level of availability in the parking spots is pretty high all the time through the various segments of the day. Again, my own personal experience of the limited occasions on which I seek to drive to the city, outside of probably Christmas when you get a particular impact, is that the rest of the year it is very easy to find a parking spot in all of those Canberra Centre car parks. But the way they are designed, they are difficult to access out of hours at times, and even during the day they tend to lead people straight into that shopping centre and no further into the city.
Those are my personal observations on the way that the city operates and the challenges that presents. There are periods when areas around City Walk in particular are struggling to have people around. I never feel unsafe travelling through City Walk, but I heard Mr Coe’s comments that others do find it unsafe. I think that is very regrettable. I think it has improved in recent times, but again it certainly ebbs and flows.
Mr Coe challenged me informally across the chamber—I indicated to him I intend to support Mr Gentleman’s amendment, which I do—to say which part of his motion I disagree with. I do not particularly disagree with any of it. I think that he has raised some interesting questions. Probably the “calls on” section was the primary place where I would have differences. I am not sure that producing another options paper is the answer for the city. That is where I did speak with Mr Gentleman in the preparation of his amendment. What he has detailed in that “calls on” section is probably a better response in the sense that doing another options paper is not the answer.
We have seen the city plan, which Mr Gentleman spoke of, and the very extensive consultation that was undertaken during the preparation of that strategy and the large number of people engaged. I think members will have seen the tents up in the city where people were invited to come in and talk with people there. I know there is extensive discussion with groups like Canberra CBD Ltd. Some of the traders around
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