Page 825 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 9 March 2016
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I stand today to draw the government’s attention again to the inadequacies of parking at the Weston group centre and possible remedies to people’s frustration. The Weston group centre was developed as a part of Weston Creek. The area was initially developed between 1968 and 1974, with the first residents taking up a place in their homes in 1969. Currently the Weston Creek area has a population of approximately 23,000 residents, according to the master plan. The Weston Creek community is serviced by the Weston group centre, also referred to by many as Cooleman Court. Cooleman Court is a key social and economic hub for Weston Creek residents, offering aged care, child care, health facilities, religious centres, indoor recreation, restaurants, several cafes, grocery stores and department stores, and is the third largest group centre in Canberra.
Weston group centre also services the new Molonglo Valley precinct which, once complete, will have an expected population of 55,000 residents, yet the new Molonglo Valley has no detailed plan for a group centre—although we are told that one is planned. The Weston group centre has two car parks of around 500 car parking spaces together, a smaller car park and some on-street parking. Both car parks at Cooleman Court were resealed in 2013. Due to the shortcomings of the spray seal surface—otherwise referred to as chip seal—that was used, as opposed to the more expensive asphalt option, the car park surface required fixing for a second time. My motion calls on the government to resolve the lack of parking around the Weston group centre and to advise the Assembly when the new group centre in Molonglo will be built. I am aware of the amendment that has basically taken everything out of the motion, which is rather unfortunate.
For too long now this Assembly and the people of Canberra have been kept in the dark about the processes and decisions surrounding the development of these new suburbs. The government has been in power for nearly 15 years and it is evident that it is becoming less and less transparent. Because of this lack of transparency, many constituents in Weston Creek contact me on a regular basis to ask questions about what is happening with the new Molonglo region. The lack of transparency is often at the centre of many constituents’ concerns. People can put up with quite a lot of inconvenience if they know that there is an end point and what that end point will be.
In addition to their concerns about the new Molonglo region, frequently members of Weston Creek write to me or talk to me at mobile offices. They are disgruntled and directly inconvenienced by the lack of parking at Cooleman Court. One of the reasons is that they can remember in not so distant history that it was not so bad and they had a much more convenient shopping or community experience. As the third largest group centre in the ACT, it services an older demographic profile than the rest of Canberra. There is inadequate, outdated and insufficient parking to meet demand. I invite the ministers in this government to go to Cooleman Court on any given day and witness for themselves the frustration and confusion that many residents and community members experience on a regular basis.
It is not just the elderly that we are letting down. It is those many families that comprise Weston Creek. It is the people who work at the Weston group centre and it is the people who need to use the one and only petrol station in Weston Creek at the
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