Page 881 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 9 March 2016
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I have had numerous conversations with a cross-section of the Tharwa community, and this is how they have been made to feel. In the words of one resident whom I spoke to last week, the community meeting that was held for residents by the government felt much more like a real estate sales pitch instead of a constructive listening experience being conducted by the government to gauge the views of residents. The residents of Tharwa have already bought down there. They see the benefit; they see the value. They do not need to be told why it is so great.
The residents have also told me that they feel like the process has been a “tick the box” exercise with very little regard having been shown for the views and contributions offered by the Tharwa community itself. In fact I understand that when one resident raised what they felt was a significant issue for Tharwa as a whole, that being the lease arrangements for Cuppacumbalong Homestead, this resident was shut down and officials refused to engage in any conversation on the issue at all.
The other point made to me by many residents is the length of time allocated for this so-called consultation. Less than one month was offered as a time frame for residents to express their views in what is one of the busiest periods of the year, particularly for families of children as they return to school.
The process is summed up nicely in this email that was sent to all members of Brindabella, including the minister responsible, from a resident. It says:
There is a lot of unease building as Planning is rushing the discussions on the draft plan. Unfortunately Planning is seeing the consultation etc as a few weeks’ exercise when it is a very important rationale for a precious little village for the next 50 or more years. I urge you all to keep a finger on the pulse as Tharwa is taken further down the plug hole of governmental and bureaucratic ignorance that has virtually decimated us since self government.
It would be very much appreciated if we could get a bit of respect for Tharwa in the run up to October.
Despite the consultation process there seem to be some ideas put forward by the government. These include a community hub, a pop-up market stall on the tennis court and other tokenistic ideas that will do very little to expand or encourage traffic through the area. I would now like to read into the record one of the comments made on the time to talk website:
I note the Government is proposing to make the shop area a community hub. I imagine this is for the Canberra residents because it already has a Tharwa community hub. You are suggesting the tennis courts be removed and markets being set up. The store is going to be made into a coffee shop. Are you planning on removing the current owner or are you going to update his lease? Who do you imagine will be managing this market district? Have you researched the fact that this was already tried and failed because of the parking and traffic issues?
What are you going to do about curbing the current traffic speed going through the village? With the added traffic mooted I imagine this may cause some public safety issues Also will you upgrade the public toilets? The increased visitor
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