Dickson development about to happen
A couple of days before Christmas, a call came through from the Coles project manager to the Dickson Residents Group convenor that the new supermarket complex was to go ahead in May/June 2021.
Category Archives: Life Matters
Heritage Listing Lake Burley Griffin
Commonwealth bureaucratic mischief
People try hard to have faith in the federal government and its processes. When it comes to important matters, such as heritage, how can we expect the federal government to behave?
Yes Minister! rules ACT Government
ACT planners review their own rules – not joking!
Canberra residents care for their homes, their streets, their suburbs and wish that the urban environments and facilities were maintained and enhanced for future generations.
National Capital Authority failures
NCA continues to be tricky
There’s a new level of frustration within Canberra’s community groups with how the ACT government conducts itself on planning and development.
ACT Government stacked boards
Board members irrelevant to Canberra
The boards of the City Renewal Authority, the National Capital Authority and the Suburban Land Agency have little connection to the everyday life of residents.
ACT Planning has to change!
or better still – sack themsleves
When it comes to the ACT government and planning and development, 2020 was not a year to be celebrated.
Canberra community groups have fun
Local enthusiasm for trees and parks
When community groups bring residents together to collectively do something for their suburb, good things happen.
ACT Greens challenged on planning
ACT Government and the ACT Greens
Wandering down a street in Auckland, NZ, in early June 2016, we came upon a small group of people having a laugh about an advertising poster.
A day out in Braidwood
Making the time out to visit regionally
Earlier this month we ventured out for the day to meet a friend at Braidwood. She was from the south coast and so Braidwood meant we both travelled just over an hour.
Margaret Timson Park Belconnen
ACT Government fails on parks again
The last couple of years has been bad news for parks in Canberra.
ACT Government score card
They are not doing well!
With the ACT Labor/Greens coalition in place until October 2024, it’s a good time to start reporting on how it’s performing.
ACT Government ignores Commonwealth Park
Commonwealth Park neglected by government
Attention to a significant piece of national land is being overlooked among the misinformation used to justify the demolition of West Basin.
ACT Government and public sculpture
Need for a new public art policy
Sometime during the last election, a candidate said something about revising the public sculpture program initiated by Jon Stanhope when he was chief minister.
pandemic travel to Adelaide
not so normal travel during the pandemic
We took the opportunity to travel to what seemed like a faraway place – Adelaide.
ACT Government and spin (fibs)
planning spin (fibs) dominate
It could be said that residents and community groups have been a little foolish.
ACT Government and its electorate
They talk to voters at elections only
For Canberra residents involved with advocacy on planning and development over the last decade, a major frustration was the attitude of ACT politicians once elected to government.
Elizabeth Lee takes over the ACT Liberals
New Leader for a lost party
Hands up anyone who was surprised by the ACT Liberals’ election results.
Canberra’s missing arts centres
ACT Government failure on culture
In 2015, the now disbanded Land Development Agency announced the follow up to its 2011 master plan with the go-ahead for the Kingston Arts Precinct.
ACT Government and NGO silence
The silence of those who should know better
Canberra used to have an active level of advocacy across the spectrum of arts, social and welfare groups.
West Basin and City Renewal Authority
Reason to go for a wander
This piece is addressed to the ACT Greens & its members
ACT Elections 2020
The corflute wars
There are corflute wars again with the ACT elections.
ACT Election boring
Excitement – Coe goes without his tie!
With one week to go to the ACT elections, my interest has definitely reduced.
ACT Government stuffs up social housing
And that’s being polite
Canberra’s community groups are increasingly having to argue for a rethink on the placement of social housing within their suburban areas.
Scott Morrison and women
These boys have a problem
It took my breath away when I read the line by the prime minister’s office – “nothing in the budget is gendered”
City Renewal Authority a loss cause
Time to give up on the City Renewal Authority
Has the electorate of Murrumbidgee been overlooked again?
ACT Elections 2020
Making that choice!
Given that I will be voting as an early voter next week, the time has come to decide on the candidates to be given the tick – or the flick.
Deafening silence of the ACT Greens
Election 2020 and Shane Rattenbury
Many residents who voted for the ACT Greens are disillusioned given how the partnership with ACT Labor has sidelined many planning, development, environmental, heritage and urban issues.
ACT Government planning mess
How planning went wrong in MacGregor
In 2010, Dickson residents lodged objections to a unit development and eventually took the developer and the ACT Planning Directorate through the appeals tribunal and won.
Lack of Master Planning in Canberra
ACT Government fails on master planning
Canberra’s community groups spend a lot of time assessing complex development applications.
Ainslie residents and local park rezoning
YWCA as unthinking developer
While attention is on larger issues such as the pandemic and a host of planning and development disasters, it is important to not overlook the ever-present local development issues.
ACT Liberals sit on the fence
Liberals have barely opposed trashing of the city
Planning is important to Canberrans because they like living in this bush capital and want future generations to benefit from what the city has to offer.
Once elected, forget the public
ACT politicians loyal to parties over voters
It’s begun; politicians are on the phone calling people asking if there are issues they want to discuss. What joy!
Chris Steel works hard to lose 2020 election
A loser in the 2020 ACT elections?
Chris Steel is currently a Labor-elected member for Murrumbidgee and happens to be the Minister for Something within the ACT Labor/Greens coalition government.
Continue reading Chris Steel works hard to lose 2020 election
ACT Government and West Basin
More spin from the City Renewal Authority
When the ACT’s City Renewal Authority made its announcement on Tuesday (August 11) about the latest plan for West Basin, there was a slight glimmer of hope that, at last, maybe someone was listening. Not so!
Australian War Memorial
It is about people – not war machines
A Reminder: the Australian War Memorial is about people
Waste Facilities to wreck Fyshwick
ISCCC call to arms!
The Inner South Canberra Community Council has published a “Call To Arms” to highlight what is going on in Fyshwick with developments for major waste-disposal activities.
2020 ACT Elections
Andrew Barr to win – again?
It’s an interesting exercise to commission a friend to draw a cartoon of the three people (two politicians and one bureaucrat) who are largely responsible for Canberra’s planning and development.
West Basin and ACT Government spin
There’s a brochure in circulation about the debate on the future of the green spaces and foreshore along Lake Burley Griffin’s West Basin.
Supermarket Shopping
Looking for gems on the shelves
Going to a supermarket has always been enjoyable.
Signs of Something
four signs of life
The sign above is in Deakin and placed after an intersection and well before the next. Continue reading Signs of Something
Vote for Greenery
Difficulties for Canberra voters to support greenery
On World Environment Day, June 5, the Canberra Liberals committed to planting one million trees over the next decade if they form government following the October 17 ACT election.
Signage wars in Kingston
More about Geocon in Kingston
When the spin doctors for Geocon published the proposal for an eight-storey tower in the middle of Kingston (where two is the norm and three/four nearby), the locals were not happy.
ACT Government land deals
Reminder of the Dickson Land Swap
With the ACT election now just over two months away, Chief Minister Andrew Barr would be urging his colleagues not to remind the electorate of the infamous Dickson land swap.
Stephen Bartos tries to respond
why do people make a fool of themselves?
A couple of week ago I posted on Common Ground and mentioned the chair Stephen Bartos.
More about Geocon, Purdon and Kingston
Before the last election there were promises of how planning was to be made easier to understand (the Ponton planning review that did not happen), planning was to be more people focussed (pigs might fly first), and new agencies to ensure good design and better urban environments (it has got worse).
ACT Government ignores heritage
Meanwhile at a site I regularly mention, Section 72 Dickson, another piece of sneakiness has been uncovered by Jane Goffman, of the Dickson Residents Group.
ACT Government endangers heritage
This piece is dedicated to those in community groups who forensically examine the complicated planning documents relentlessly put out by the ACT planning bureaucrats.
Argyle Housing and the Dickson Land Swap
ACT Government entangles Common Ground in Land Swap
Stephen Bartos, chair of social housing provider Common Ground, said his organisation wasn’t involved in the planning processes around the planned Dickson site and certainly didn’t want to be, when he spoke to “CityNews” on June 3.
ACT Government ignores heritage, again
Last July “City News” commented about the progress of a questionable development on the former CSIRO site in Campbell.
ACT politician almost gets it right
Here’s praise for an ACT politician. The accolade goes to the Greens’ Caroline Le Couteur for her work in chairing (from 2016) the Legislative Assembly committee on planning and urban renewal and the release of the April report – “The Inquiry into Engagement with the Development Application Process in the ACT”.
ACT Government’s toxic planning
Canberra’s community representatives struggle to find positive things to say about the ACT’s planning directorate. Most have seen too much bad stuff going down.
Complexities of the ACT Murrumbidgee electorate
the empty chair waiting for the right candidate
How candidates perform in the electorate of Murrumbidgee is going to be a focus in the October 17 ACT election.
Continue reading Complexities of the ACT Murrumbidgee electorate
Mistake being polite with ACT Government
Time to stop being polite to rude people
Artwork: Stephen Harrison
Some of us sit at desks writing loads of stuff to bring about change while the barbarous politicians and bureaucrats just keep on doing what they do best – wreck the joint!
NSW borders open
Enjoying freedom to travel
Last Monday we were heading up the highway towards Sydney. We had crossed the border. It felt strange. It had been three months since we had left the ACT.
ACT Greens fail to be green
On the last day of April, the Inner South Canberra Community Council (ISCCC) issued a media release advocating the importance of streetscapes, open spaces and trees.
NCA and inequity in decisions
How the horse paddock grab is about inequity
Residents are often taken aback by the culture of disrespect for locals that has become firmly embedded within the ACT’s political and bureaucratic ranks.
NCA takes away community horse paddocks
Secretive land swap with ACT Government
Alternative facts are being used to deny the ramifications on a national asset and on the lives of Canberra’s active equestrian communities as the public wakes up to the ACT government’s secret land swap with the NCA.
ACT Government overdue to go
Canberra voters can do better
There are about five months to the next ACT election. There’s a lockdown in place. So how do ACT politicians get noticed if they cannot stand around crowded places to try to be noticed?
ACT Government avoid facts on West Basin
The City Renewal Authority uses spin rather than facts
In November, Juliet Ramsay of the Lake Burley Griffin Guardians presented a paper to the Australian ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites).
ACT opposition remains a mystery
What do the ACT Liberals stand for?
It’s not often that I find myself agreeing with Andrew Barr. When he made that statement about Alistair Coe’s comments last week, I thought he was spot on.
ACT Government to trash West Basin
NCA trades North Curtin horse paddocks
It’s not often that the community sector gets stunned completely by an ACT government development announcement.
Downer residents new power
Covid-19 came to the Downer community centre
One of Canberra’s hard-working community groups has discovered that it has been bestowed an authority it did not know it had.
ACT Government attack on Dickson residents
Yvette Berry continues her Boris Johnson moments
As the COVID-19 crisis took hold and people bunkered down, residents hoped for less stupid things by the ACT Planning Directorate.
ACT Government messes with Gungahlin
Developers ruin the town centre, politicians silent!
In late 2019 the ACT government proposed to vary the plan for the Gungahlin town centre. It didn’t take long for the Gungahlin Community Council to spot the devil in the detail – or to be more accurate – what detail went missing.
ACT Government allows excessive noise
ACT Government fails to listen about noise
Many Canberrans have the luxury of living in established suburbs and until recently had some confidence that the nature of the suburb probably would not change radically during their lifetimes.
Hoons on Canberra urban streets
ACT Government encourages hooning
Surfacing in community meetings across Canberra is an issue that is upsetting people’s enjoyment of their neighbourhoods.
Stay Safe and Carry On
The panic for toilet paper
I Maybe imagining this, but I think people have taken to smiling more. Maybe it is a way of not letting the threats of the virus get to you, but it is happening.
Spoiling the bush capital
The ACT Government ruins a good city!
The Chief Minister Andrew Barr and his Labor/Greens government have made it clear that their view of Canberra’s future is different from that of the city’s residents and those that cherish its place in the world as Australia’s bush capital.
ACT Government spin about the hospital
The Minister tries again to fool the residents
It’s always good to give credit where credit is due. When people call out political nonsense and ingenuous behaviour, those doing the calling out should be valued and praised.
No trust in ACT Government’s planning review
When the ACT government announced in February that it was funding the ACT planning review to the tune of $1.2 million there was not much dancing in the streets.
Continue reading No trust in ACT Government’s planning review
fence-sitting Greens let Labor run amok
ACT community betrayed by ACT Greens
Before the 2016 ACT elections the Labor Party indicated that it was to make changes to how planning and development happened.
ACT Government makes a mess of the hospital
Time to call out this government on health
On January 29, “CityNews” published a well-researched article about how the Woden Valley Hospital’s future had been mishandled and is now seriously hindered in its capacity to deliver to the people of Canberra.
Continue reading ACT Government makes a mess of the hospital
ACT Government burns tax dollars
City Renewal Authority waste money – again
In centuries past when a colonial power arrived somewhere foreign (to them), they presumed that they knew how to improve the local culture and commenced with handing around beads and trinkets.
ACT Government hospital mismanagement
Woden Valley Community deal with serious issues
Woden Valley Community Council (WVCC) meetings have commenced the year 2020 with priority themes that are much the same as in 2019.
ACT Government on climate emergency
When an emergency is not an emergency
In May 2019 the ACT Government declared a climate emergency. The expectation would have been for high-profile urgent actions.
City Renewal Authority fails
Silly signs indicate the failure of this agency
Full marks to someone in Dickson last week who spotted the opportunity to place a discarded City Renewal Authority silly sign up against the wall of a major Dickson shop.
There was a message in this action.
ACT Minister with silly ideas
A stupid decision by Chris Steel MLA
A media statement by an ACT Minister would surely be fact checked and at least have someone cast their eye over it for a reality check.
Mystery of the ACT Government’s finances
Where does the money go?
A topic that dominates “CityNews” columns and other media, is how the ACT’s Labor-Greens coalition government collects and spends your money.
ACT Minister links a tender to philanthropy
More questionable behaviour from an ACT Minister
Previously I reported that there remains a looooong list of dubious matters involved with the proposed building of a Common Ground apartment complex on Section 72 Dickson. These date back to the infamous Dickson land swap.
Continue reading ACT Minister links a tender to philanthropy
Bridget McKenzie and alternate facts
Australian political dishonesty
This piece is based on the extraordinary goings-on of an Australian federal minister – and her use of alternate facts to pretend that there is nothing wrong when the Auditor General has reported otherwise.
ACT Government’s inability to listen
Residents speak but the government interprets
In August 2019, Ben Ponton, the ACT’s chief planner, said: “Your feedback plays a key role through your unique ability to communicate useful observations into issues that may affect your neighbourhood…”
And the reality?
Greta Thunberg and George Monbiot
a very simple solution: Trees
Because what you do next – today and tomorrow, and every day after that, Counts
So make it count
ACT Minister continues vandalism behaviour
Berry Bulldozers Dickson Residents again
The year begins with yet another event around Dickson section 72 (Dickson parklands) involving ACT Housing Minister Yvette Berry doing her best to upset and alienate the voters within the inner north, just in time for the 2020 elections.
The ACT Labor/Greens Government fails Canberra
The Singapore government of the ’70s, led by Lee Kuan Yew, was hell-bent on building a modern and prosperous city/state. It took a close relative to point out that if he wanted tourists to visit, then he needed to stop bulldozing the old stuff.
Continue reading The ACT Labor/Greens Government fails Canberra
Parrots and ACT politicians
Using the media to mislead the residents
Taking the time to observe the many birds in our garden provides a complete distraction from the more serious matters of life.
Well, at least this is what it should be.
ACT Government and drones
Residents’ protest about noisy drones
One of the pleasurable experiences of where I live is to sit around the garden, usually in the morning or evening is best, and to take in the cacophony of suburban bird sounds.
Canberra and trees
Thinking about trees at Christmas time
It’s Christmas! A time to be jolly.
A Christmas tree is such a positive symbol. No matter how crazy or plain, Christmas trees, like the real ones, bring joy. And we could do with a lot more fun in life.
Molonglo – An ACT Government planning mess
When the ACT Legislative Assembly voted in October to establish a committee to examine the planning problems that plagued the development of the Molonglo suburbs of Wright and Coombs, it would follow that this signalled that someone may be paying attention to what residents have been saying for the last few years.
At least that is what we should be thinking.
Making a mess of hospital developments
How political decisions overrule logic and good planning
First the good news. The ACT government is committed to adding overdue facilities to the Woden Valley Hospital.
ACT Greens and spin
Into the inner-north letterboxes has appeared a pamphlet from one of our local members, the ACT Greens’ Shane Rattenbury. There will be more from others given the October 2020 ACT elections.
The problem with the Greens’ pamphlet was the spin. The heading read “Putting our climate first”.
ACT Greens and trees
Canberra trees and the coming firestorms
Late in 2018 the Weston Creek Community Council held a public forum for fire experts to provide information about fires in the 21st century. It was really scary stuff.
City Design Commission
Urgent need for Design in Canberra
Canberra has an enviable reputation as a designed and planned city.
Unfortunately, the shine has come off this accolade over the last decades.
ACT Government and changing flood map information
How did the water recede from the ACT Flood Map?
Here’s an issue now being looked at in the inner north – and no-one has yet to work out what happened.
Continue reading ACT Government and changing flood map information
ACT Greens and trees
Greens do not react to more trees being removed!
The ACT government is hoping to plonk Common Ground onto Section 72 in Dickson and is asking for feedback on the concept design for the building and site design.
Disingenuous proposals for Dickson
As happens regularly across Canberra, developers have a set style in their presentation to community groups.
voting for the empty chair in 2020
Next year on October 17, the date for the ACT government election, voters must choose a government for the following four years.
Given the views about current ACT politicians, the thought of being compelled to vote is a real dilemma. The leadership chair that trusted politicians should occupy is empty. Yet by this time next year, voters need to put someone in that empty chair.
more on Canberra and trees
Bureaucracies can be so out of touch with reality. Not for the first time there are serious questions around decisions being made about the fate of trees in the suburbs of Canberra.
The catalyst for this piece starts with a sad story in Holder where a resident is being driven crazy by decisions about the obvious need to remove an inappropriate tree next to his house.
Canberra’s Community Councils
Canberra, our bush capital, is a good place to live (no surprises there). Part of the credit for this goes to residents who have put in time and energy over decades to bring people together through neighbourhood groups and the larger combined community councils.
These community leaders encourage debates (usually friendly) and exchanges of information on a whole range of issues, with planning and development being the usual hot topics (thankfully, not always).
Canberra and the fictional Utopia
On the same evening, the North Canberra Community Council (NCCC) hosted a presentation by Malcolm Snow, the real CEO of the City Renewal Authority, on the authority’s program for urban developments and infrastructure around Civic and north to Dickson.
ACT planning lacks good governance
This opinion piece only scratches the surface of the enormous problems we have here in Canberra with planning and development. The whole of the planning system has been corrupted by decades of bad management and the development of a culture that has residents as the enemy to be tricked and out manoeuvred. Click here for my piece in City News.
Yvette Berry insults Canberra’s inner north residents
After almost a decade of residents saying very clearly what their preferred options were for a precious community site within Dickson in the inner north of Canberra (Dickson Parklands) , residents have been told that Yvette Berry, Minister for social housing (housing clearances mostly) is to announce that her wonderful deaf government is to build on this community site. Click here for the opinion piece published in City News.
for another instance of Yvette Berry’s talent – click here – being dismissive about the urgent and long over due needs for sports, community and cultural facilities in Woden.