Page 2169 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 5 June 2019
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
I am not a Yerrabi member and I claim no particular knowledge of the exact consultation, but it was interesting to listen to Mr Milligan’s views, which are undoubtedly much better informed than mine on this subject. Are we going to have similar motions for Kenny, Taylor and Moncrieff as they are developed? Why don’t we just do them as a job lot now and say, “Let’s have consultation in Gungahlin”?
Given Casey’s distance from the town centre, why not consult with the community about other infrastructure or social services needs that they may currently have, and that they currently need to travel some distance to access—a swimming pool, an indoor sports facility or maybe a second senior secondary college for Gungahlin in or around Casey?
I note that Minister Berry has just announced that a new high school will be built at Kenny. On the surface—again I say that I am not a Yerrabi member—this does not appear to be located near where a lot of the catchment student population is likely to be living. Perhaps, in fact, the government should be planning for a secondary school near Casey. Maybe that is what the government should be using the land for. Of course, there are many issues outside Gungahlin on which more consultation could be undertaken, but, given the reaction last time I tried to broaden a motion to include Woden, I will not continue with that line of thought.
I must say that it is hard to understand why the government require a motion to do what one assumes they should be doing in a business-as-usual capacity. Perhaps, as was the case following Mr Pettersson’s media release regarding parking at the Palmerston shops, which was followed by a pre-budget announcement of more car parks at the Palmerston shops, we can expect an imminent government announcement about community consultation in Casey.
I trust that the community consultation in Casey will be meaningful, worthwhile and able to inform and guide government policy regarding the development of community facilities. This, of course, is entirely consistent with the Greens’ approach to involving people in decisions that affect them. The Greens, however, are concerned about quality consultation, not just having consultation for consultation’s sake.
There are a few general principles for quality consultation that I will list: provision of all relevant information; adequate time and resources for the community and stakeholders to be consulted; publicity so that affected community members and stakeholders know about the consultation; and what I think is probably the most important of all—a genuine commitment by the government to listen to the community and to be prepared to change what they do as a result of community feedback.
Too often it seems that community consultation is done mainly because the government know they have to be seen to do it. It becomes clear either during the consultation or afterwards that the government have already decided what they are going to do and they are going through the motions in doing the consultation. I wonder whether that is the case in Casey with the proposed development. Obviously, the Greens will support this motion. I trust that it will lead to very good consultation in Casey and, ultimately, good community facilities in Casey.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video