Page 2603 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 10 August 2016

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Speaking more broadly about the city to the lake project, Madam Deputy Speaker, it is one of the largest urban renewal projects underway in this country. It was born through the National Capital Authority amending the national capital plan under the Howard Liberal government in 2006, making way for changes at West Basin that will see it become a waterfront for all Canberrans—one that we can be proud of.

The objective of the city to the lake project is to knit the centre of our city together, to connect residents and people to one of our city’s great assets, to change the face of the city and to bring more Canberrans and visitors to actually interact with our man-made lake. It is a game changer for Canberra, just as the establishment of the respective south banks in Brisbane and Melbourne were for those cities.

This project enhances Canberra as a city for its residents and its visitors and provides additional opportunities for business and for future generations. Importantly, the project provides a new public waterfront and 5½ hectares of new public parks, promenades, public squares and cafes, a 650-metre new boardwalk along the lake’s edge, alongside a 55-metre wide promenade. Importantly, it connects our city centre to Lake Burley Griffin and to Commonwealth Park.

As the eminent Canadian planner Larry Beasley said on a recent visit to Canberra:

The lake is extraordinary—it gives a focal point, it gives a centre for a community to grow around and grow towards. The city needs to come to the lake, the city needs to be engaged with the lake and the lake with the city.

The city will bring energy to the lake and the lake brings enticement to the city ... it’s what cities all over the world are searching for.

There is no wonder that Canberrans support this project. It is worth reminding Assembly members and the broader community that in 2013 when consultation began on this project we talked to 15,000 Canberrans. I repeat that: 15,000 Canberrans participated in the consultation, and 94 per cent agreed:

… the objectives and principles for City to the Lake fit well with their idea of a liveable Canberra and the city they want for the future.

That is the view of 94 per cent of the 15,000 Canberrans who participated. I am not sure that there have been many consultations in this city in the history of self-government that have had that many people participate—15,000. Let us put some perspective on this. I am aware there was a public meeting that about 200 people attended, 200 people who have a different view. But 94 per cent of those 15,000 who expressed a view in 2013 thought the project was the right way forward for Canberra. The same number—94 per cent of the 15,000—supported creating the new public waterfront and reconstructing Parkes Way so that we could extend streets from the city to this new lakefront.

That is not surprising, because a large part of this project is, of course, correcting the horrendous mistakes of the past. I do not think anyone today would suggest that putting a freeway—Parkes Way—between the city and the lake was a good planning


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