Page 2043 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 6 June 2018
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would realise this is really important because this is the link between Weston and Woden. And it is becoming more and more important because it is the back, quick way through. Now that we have Molonglo, you go from Molonglo to Weston and then in to Woden. What used to be a quite quiet road has become a very busy road. I was at a public meeting last week where there was talk about needing speed humps. It is a very busy road.
There is proposed development on the old AFP site. It is very important that there is a safe way for cyclists to go along Heysen Drive. Commuting cyclists are probably more interested than car drivers in not going extra kilometres just to go around three sides of light rail rather than one side. Going through Heysen Drive enables them to save an awful lot of time going between Weston and Woden, and between Molonglo, Weston and Woden. There has been a great grassroots campaign from local residents to try to get funding to fix this missing link. From budget paper 3 it looks like they have been successful. This is very welcome news.
Thirdly, I want to talk about adopt-a-park. Again, Murrumbidgee members of the Assembly will have noticed that local parks and playgrounds have been very popular topics of interest over the last year and a half. I assume that members from other electorates have also found this to be a very major topic of conversation. Several communities in Murrumbidgee—Farrer and Waramanga most noticeably—have come together to put forward a suite of ideas about how open space around their local centres could be upgraded, starting in both instances with proposals for a new playground.
It is really great that people want to get involved in their local area. They have loads of energy, enthusiasm and great ideas to contribute. The problem often comes when these ideas hit TCCS Directorate. First, of course, they have to find the right part of the bureaucracy to work with. That, as we all know, is not straightforward. Secondly, those bureaucrats clearly do not have any process for working with a proactive local community. Thirdly, of course, the directorate does get very nervous about cost. That concern about cost is very understandable. They have to look at Canberra as a whole. They do not want to be in the situation of giving a shiny new toy to one community and having to say no to the rest of Canberra. They have very limited money to go around.
Hopefully, if the adopt-a-park initiative is well implemented—all I know about it is the one line in budget paper 3—it could solve many of these problems. It could provide a clear process and an entry point for local communities. It might also resolve some of the cost concerns. It provides a way forward for TCCS and the community to agree that TCCS will fund X as part of the ongoing budget and the community can fundraise for Y and Z. There will also be a grant from adopt-a-park, which will be enough to get the whole project over the line. TCCS can then check that everything is safe. There will probably be some volunteer working bees. TCCS will have a process for doing whatever it needs to do as far as asset acceptance is concerned if TCCS will have an ongoing role in maintenance.
In summary, I support Ms Cheyne’s motion. What happens in city services is really important to making a livable Canberra, a Canberra that we all enjoy living in, a
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