Page 4184 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 23 October 2019
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Residents of Molonglo also regularly tell me—I have just had another email this morning—that the area lacks community facilities. On the surface it seems okay, there is child care, a government school and a medical centre. But what the residents are really concerned about is the lack of community life. I would have to give a big positive for the mingle activities run by the Suburban Land Agency. But there are no multicultural groups, no art groups, no local charities or service organisations, no Scouts or Guides. Why?
Over the last decade there has been a squeeze on land release for community facilities. In the Molonglo Valley only one block was released, outside the government, in the first nine years. The second is being sold at the moment, with tenders closing on 14 November. Both these sites have been released through open market sales. The only community users that could possibly afford to buy sites on the open market are childcare centres, private health centres and private aged-care facilities. Real community organisations economically do not get a look in.
The land release process for the first site included a requirement to build a community hall. There is a fully built community hall under the privately owned community facilities but it is not actually open for community use. I asked a question about this in the Assembly and as yet have received no reply from Minister Orr, despite being promised one. It is just sitting there, as far as we can tell, unused. The government, I think, has no power to make sure it is leased.
The community facility site currently up for sale in Wright has a slightly different lease requirement to provide a community hall. I note that the only reason this is happening is the community controversy about public housing on the other part of that block. It is very unfortunate that it took that level of angst to create the possibility of a community hall. There is different wording, which I hope will work out better. But we have the potential that there will be two completely unused community halls in Molonglo because of how the leasing has been done.
There is also the issue of sustainability of development in Molonglo Valley. The Greens have been pushing for years for the Molonglo Valley to be a showcase of excellence in sustainable design. The Seventh Assembly Labor-Greens parliamentary agreement committed to the following: first, excellence in sustainable design, construction of public transport infrastructure from the outset of development, mandatory solar passivity, pedestrian-friendly design, inclusion of a third pipeline for non-potable water and implementing child-friendly planning principles in the development of Wright and Coombs.
The Labor-Greens parliamentary agreement for the Eighth Assembly called for a Molonglo cycle highway feasibility study. There has been some delivery but not that much. The Molonglo study is typical. The study was done but, to quote from the response to question on notice 2711:
None of the infrastructure upgrades identified by the feasibility study have been completed to date.
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