Building the future

As 2016 ends, and with the territory election now behind us, it is right that we turn our minds to what sort of city and community we want Canberra to be for the next year, the next four years, and in a generation.

The time is right to change how the government leads and delivers the Canberra of the future, building on work that is already underway and work that is transforming Canberra into a modern, confident, vibrant, inclusive and importantly, sustainable city.

It is essential that government sets the direction for city growth and renewal, which adds to our unique character and demonstrates to the world that we are welcoming, inclusive, and an interesting place to live and work.

The time is right for to us to also refocus our efforts on making available new and affordable home sites in suburban communities to meet the demands of a growing population.

The ABS have again confirmed today that more than 5,000 new people join our city every year. Celebrating our centenary has helped us focus on what is special about our city and confirmed our exciting future.

As a government and as a community, we must build on that feeling, and create that future together.

Cities do not succeed by accident or by leaving things to chance; they require good design, good governance, and great collaboration. Cities must internally collaborate to compete in the modern era, and together we can ensure that Canberra wins the global contest for investment and for talent.

In that contest, we have key advantages. Today, we are counted as one of the world’s most livable cities, a top 10 destination for inward investment and a magnet for high-achieving students. Our city’s reputation for openness, inclusiveness, sustainability and climate action is known around the world.

I want to add to that reputation a deep commitment to a sustainable model of urban development. Helping us to shape our future is a type of governance that is unique in Australia. Other cities lack the metropolitan integration, cross-government coordination and proximity between government, business and community which Canberra alone enjoys. We have the clear assets and strengths of a capital city with a global reach.

Canberra is truly a city like no other.

Our task is to ensure that as Canberra grows and develops, we build on this Canberra advantage while retaining what makes our city special—a place that all Canberrans and the nation can be proud of, with a confident community and a confident economy, that is prepared for the opportunities and challenges ahead.

While all Australian cities are set to grow significantly, no other city has quite our opportunity to get the balance right between a dynamic city centre and flourishing suburbs, preserving the best of what we have now whilst embracing and preparing for necessary change.

We must recognise one simple proposition: we shape change or it shapes us.

Standing still is simply not an option for Canberra. We need more than a business-as-usual approach to achieve our potential and deliver the successful, equitable and sustainable city that Canberrans seek. From the strength of our heritage, values and identity, we embrace the future and welcome all to “choose Canberra”, to come and help shape its further success. And while our aim is the urban renewal and economic diversification of Canberra, at the core of our vision is a city that reflects and houses an inclusive, welcoming society open to diverse talents and determined to help everyone reach their fullest potential and to share in the prosperity of our city.

In the simplest of possible terms, Canberra is open to change, open to talent, open to business, open to diversity and open to innovation. It is a progressive city for all, shaped by all, with opportunities for all, no matter where they live in the city or where they come from.

Our vision and our focus should be on shaping that progressive city. This afternoon I want to take the opportunity to outline the next steps the government will take in turning the vision for Canberra that has been articulated in this statement of ambition into reality.

Humans shape the cities in which we live, but we are also shaped by them.

Our living in our city affects us socially, practically, economically and psychologically, and defines our existence. We must, therefore, pursue this next stage in Canberra’s development from a people-focused perspective, founded on principles of good design and place making. This also means starting by questioning what sort of community we want, what sort of community we need to be and what sort of lifestyles Canberrans wish to lead.

Building a great city demands collaborative effort.

In Canberra, we are in the fortunate position of having land on which to build and the expertise to create genuinely exciting and productive buildings. At the outset, though, it is obvious that the continuing transformation of our city at its heart and in new suburbs will be successful and sustainable only if it is achieved through genuine engagement with all Canberrans and where the process is completed with them rather than to them.

The step change I am outlining today will position the ACT public sector to work collaboratively with the community and draw in national and global expertise. It will ensure we harness the unique character that allows Canberra to be a meeting place not just for government and governance but also for the arts and cultural institutions that hold our national identity and our local stories; for education; for science; for research; for industry; for innovation; as the centre of a region of trade, for commerce; and as home to nearly a million people.

We will honour the heritage of the bush capital and the spirit of Griffin’s vision for the ideal city as we continue this next phase of development and growth.

Our challenge is not to let ourselves become a museum of the early 20th century’s conception of city life but, as was the case when Canberra was conceived, to aspire to be a showcase of how the people of this century want to live and want to work.

The parliamentary triangle will always define Canberra as the national capital, just as the national mall defines Washington DC. At the same time, the heart of a city of 400,000 people must be renewed and it must be reinvigorated.

The path to the Canberra of the future is marked out by transformational urban renewal and innovation, underpinned by the light rail network and the city to the lake vision, all founded on design excellence.

This cannot be an exercise in the bland and boring building of “boxes”; it has to be about creating buildings that make statements about this city and excite interest in those living and working in them or just walking past them.

They should be destinations as well as useful and modern spaces. They should be able to stand the test of time and have people still talking about them in 50 years.

Prior to the election, I foreshadowed the government’s intention to replace the Land Development Agency with two specialist dedicated entities: one to focus on leading and facilitating the critical transformation of Civic and the Northbourne Avenue corridor, and one dedicated to the equally important task of developing our vibrant new suburbs to meet continuing demand in our growing city.

We are now commencing this task. The urban renewal and suburban development portfolios signal the government’s clear intention to direct effort at ministerial and official level. Work is progressing to create these two new public sector entities with clearly articulated roles and responsibilities, each with their own identity, structure and leadership.

The urban transformation task in Canberra is different from those faced in other cities. We are not dealing with uncontrolled or unsustainable population growth. We are not seeking to repurpose industrial infrastructure and areas that have fallen into wanton disrepair. What we are doing is deliberately setting out to transform the heart of our city.

In gearing for that task, the government will adopt the very best of the approaches that others have taken elsewhere and add them to our local expertise and our local knowledge.

The critical elements of this approach include a clear vision for city to the lake and the Northbourne corridor, defined by people-focused, design-led development which is properly assessed as economically sensible and sustainable and which starts from a strategic plan for the whole of the city; the creation of a defined precinct over which the new entity will have control so that it is able to work with the community and partners in developments on planning, designing and then delivering this vision; absolute clarity of purpose, role and authority, as well as accountability and responsibility for the results; and an expectation that the entity will operate commercially and deliver social policy and sustainability goals.

They will also include equality and genuine engagement with the community; and a governing board with the powers and accountability arrangements needed to get on, comprising leading thinkers in design, the commercial realities of development, community building and social inclusion, governance of public sector entities and sustainable city building. These are the skills we require on the governing board.

This precinct process has proven successful in places like South Bank in Brisbane, Elizabeth Quay and east Perth; it is being applied with great success in Adelaide, in urban renewal projects at the heart of that city; and in Sydney, at Barangaroo; in Auckland, in our region; and in cities all over the world.

The government, not this new entity, will determine when a precinct of this sort should be declared and the shape that it will take. The new entity will prioritise design to support the delivery of quality buildings, places and landscapes. This approach explicitly recognises the importance, the value, that good design adds to the experience of living in the city and the communities that we are creating. It recognises that there must be a mix of housing types and demography if these communities are to be sustainable in the long run, and that appropriate mixed-use areas are created that are safe and vibrant during the day and after hours.

In suburban development, we will also sharpen our focus and our dedication of resources in our efforts for the development of new suburbs. As the city continues to grow, we will need to continue to develop vibrant new suburbs in greenfield locations. In doing so, we need to recognise that the issues of sustainability, engagement and place making are equally relevant, even if they look a little different, in new suburbs.

Making new land available in places people want to live, at prices they can afford, will remain both a challenge for and an absolute focus of the government in the future.

There is nothing unique in those challenges for the ACT, though. We will look inside and outside the territory for better ways to sustainably deliver welcoming new developments that offer housing choice at an affordable price to buy and to rent. Whether through englobo sales such as we have seen in Denman Prospect, joint ventures like Crace or Ginninderry, or complete estate development, there is a role for the government in developing land and in providing choices for people who want to build new houses in new areas. The time is right for us now to create a new entity with absolute clarity of role, of purpose, with appropriate accountabilities and responsibility. This entity will act commercially but again deliver on social, environmental and economic imperatives. It will have its own leadership structure, including a board to direct and guide this critical function, which will be properly held to account for how well the entity performs.

Canberrans, quite rightly, will want to know what this process means for them and how they will be involved and affected. I have talked previously about the importance of having more comprehensive, more inclusive and more meaningful engagement with the community about major projects in our city. We need to bring the community into the conversation early and trust the community with the information about the trade-offs, the commercial realities and, importantly, what is up for discussion and what is not.

Here, we are talking genuine engagement with a truly representative sample of the community about how the vision for the city and its new suburbs can come to life—a truly representative sample of the community. That is what we are seeking in this engagement process.

It is absolutely critical to public confidence and trust in the work of ACT public sector agencies that their operations are conducted properly and are open to scrutiny. As I said yesterday, governance frameworks do matter. They are useless if they remain documents in folders that are never opened or become an end in themselves, wrapped in layer upon layer of box ticking. It is through the application of a governance framework every day and in every transaction that the operations of an entity can be reviewed and tested, and the people responsible for its operations can be held properly to account by their minister, by this place, and by the broader community.

Ultimately, in designing a governance framework for a public sector entity, the aim is to set it up so that it can properly do the job assigned to it by the government of the day. This is why the government is creating two entities, focused on two particular tasks, with their own boards and their own leadership structures. We will need absolute clarity of purpose, powers and the functions for the new entities, as well as  sensible engagement with risk, transparency in decision-making, genuine stakeholder engagement, integrity and probity, stewardship of the public interest, efficiency, and a focus on specifying and monitoring performance.

Even then, it is the behaviour of the entity, and the individuals that comprise it, that will make the biggest difference.

They will be supported by sound governance frameworks and a positive organisational culture. The government has now commissioned the best advice on the best way to guide and deliver the urban renewal transformation of Canberra, starting with Civic, and to continue to provide a reliable and affordable supply of new houses for housing development.

I propose to bring forward the government’s preferred structure, the government’s preferred governance approach and the necessary legislative amendments in the New Year. We are getting on with the job now so that these new entities will be in place, staffed and operating from 1 July 2017.

In conclusion, we can all agree that Canberra is a great city. But the city that we love can be even better. It can have more of a vibrant urban heart, and it can provide more choices for the people, the families, that choose to live here and choose to stay here.

The time is right for the government to provide focus, to provide resources and to provide expertise to lead this necessary transformation of our city. We are not starting from scratch, or with urban wastelands, as other cities have had to do. But the need for transformation and the need for renewal are no less pressing. Doing nothing is not an option. We will not let change shape us. Together Canberrans will shape the change and build the city of the future.