Page 2938 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 14 August 2019
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Pitman, down Pitman, down Cowlishaw Street, and back onto Reed Street North, and then you continue on the southbound route down the remainder of Anketell Street. Clearly the minister is not familiar with the area and failed to be appropriately briefed. There is more than one way to skin a proverbial cat, minister.
This is illustrative of the way that this government has treated Tuggeranong. Throw them the scraps, the ill-conceived ideas, and just forget about them and, hopefully, not get into trouble.
The town centre requires much more than a little tart-up on Anketell Street—some new car parking, some paving and an obscure sculpture—to fix that town centre area. The removal of buses from Anketell Street is a key aspect of the changes that are required. That has been evident in my conversations with residents and the many businesses that operate along there, and also those who own the properties opposite the South.Point town centre.
There is a dire need for more flexible planning rules to be implemented around those buildings to allow them to be revitalised. In the early 1990s when they were built, they served the purpose of the town centre, but the government’s planning policies, particularly the lease variation charges applied to any changes to those, has rendered them almost unusable and unable to be redeveloped. That is an absolute travesty for the Tuggeranong community and it is wholly and solely the result of this government’s contempt for developing our town centres.
It was encouraging to hear Mr Steel speak of some of the good work that Ms Joy Burch has been doing down in the electorate. She is the only Labor member who ever seems to pop her head up in the electorate, though it is infrequent. There are five members that Brindabella has elected to this Assembly. There is me, Ms Lawder, Mr Parton and Ms Joy Burch. There is a fifth one, but I do not think he quite remembers where his electorate is. He often gets lost. I am still not sure that he lives down there, but that would be about the only time he ever sees the place or does anything with it. However, it would be remiss of us to not remind everyone that Mr Gentleman is also a member for Brindabella, the absentee member.
The amendment that the government is proposing is weasel words at best. It says that we are going to think about it, talk about it and think about it some more. It says that we had better get permission from the TWU before we do anything. But this is a very simple change. It does not require much effort to work out the alternative. The implications for the network would probably see buses still running within what the government calls an on-time time window. The plus or minus a couple of minutes that are afforded for services to be deemed on time would probably be able to fit within the detour without any reworking of the existing network timetable. But that, of course, is if your bus is running.
I foreshadow that the opposition has further amendments to this motion. Mr Steel is suggesting that he not report back to the Assembly on the outcome until July next year. He needs 12 months to go down to talk to about a dozen businesses and a community that has already made clear its intentions about what needs to happen. It is about time that the government, and he as the minister, pull their finger out and get on with the
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