Page 847 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 21 March 2018
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(e) the budget process for playgrounds needs to balance the need for new playgrounds with major upgrades and ongoing minor maintenance of over 500 existing playgrounds in the ACT; and
(6) calls on the ACT Government to:
(a) continue to investigate community engagement strategies to connect communities with the future of their local infrastructure and guide local priorities, through deliberative democracy mechanisms including the Better Suburbs project and conducting a participatory budgeting pilot no later than the 2019-20 Budget cycle;
(b) investigate co-funding options to allow local communities and businesses to support infrastructure projects like playgrounds and parks;
(c) continue to ensure that playgrounds are provided equitably across Canberra and allow all Canberrans to access green—and play—spaces within walking distance of where people live, work and shop;
(d) investigate expanding ‘adopt a park’ programs to support, with both finance and services, communities to improve and maintain local infrastructure; and
(e) continue to work with the Waramanga community to develop a way forward for a new playground at Waramanga shops.”.
I should start by addressing Mr Hanson’s comments in describing me as two-faced. Politics is a lot more complicated, and government is a lot more complicated, than being one-faced or two-faced. About 400,000 people live in the ACT, and it is our responsibility to look after all of their interests. That is the oath that I signed up to when I was sworn in, to look after the interests of the people of the ACT. That is not being two-faced; that is looking after all of the people of the ACT.
This is why I think we have an issue here. I should not speak for other members, but I take my responsibilities as a member for Murrumbidgee and as a member of this Assembly very seriously, and I feel that I have to look at the interests of Murrumbidgee, the interests of Waramanga and the interests of all of the ACT. With that as a preamble to talking on my admittedly, and quite proudly, long amendment, I will talk a bit about my amendment. It was circulated earlier today, so I know that all members have had a chance to look at it.
The first part of (1) notes a number of things which I am sure Mr Hanson would agree with: that playgrounds provide an important amenity for communities and families and that investment in public infrastructure like playgrounds provides social and economic benefits to the wider community.
We then talk a bit about how playgrounds are important as accessible play environments for children to exercise their bodies and their creativity. Research, which is probably research that Mr Assistant Speaker is well aware of, shows that access to play spaces with installations can result in a 25 per cent increase in children’s physical activity. We know in these days of increasing obesity among children that this stuff is important.
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