Abolish the NCA to get Light Rail moving

I am 0% in favour of getting rid of the NCA and 100% in favour of getting rid of this over self inflated egotistical government that we have here in Canberra. Barr, Cody and all the rest of them are just the equivalent of local council members that should be far more concerned with serving us Canberrans than themselves.

Politics aside, I cannot believe this person is an elected representative. Doesn’t Canberra have better to offer than this?

I recall Bec Cody saying she was from a town in NSW, but I can’t confirm this. If you think Canberra’s open spaces are wasteland maybe live somewhere else! What do your constituents want, Bec? Have you, you know, spoken to them?? You represent the electorate, not developers.

By way of comparison with the capital of the nation with which we often liken ourselves, the ever-interesting Wikipedia advises that –

“The Government of the District of Columbia operates under Article One of the United States Constitution and the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, which devolves certain powers of the United States Congress to the Mayor and thirteen-member Council. However, Congress retains the right to review and overturn laws created by the council and intervene in local affairs. “

and

“The mayor and council set local taxes and a budget, which must be approved by the Congress. “

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_of_the_District_of_Columbia]

Interesting to note that DC, with a population at least half as large again as Canberra’s, and a budget three to four times the size of the ACT Government, manages with thirteen members.

Oh dear! Bec Cody going off on another wobbly tangent. Bec and the ACT “Government” need to remember Rule 1: The ACT is established as the National Capital to serve all Australians and Australia, the NCA has a function to perform under, as I recall it, the Seat of Government ACT of about 1900. The ACT “Government” and the citizens of the ACT are subservient to the Commonwealth legislation so anyone with any idea of abolishing the NCA would be better advised to leave the Territory. Remember that’s what it is, at Territory, it has very little in the way of states rights.

So Mr Barr is feeling frustrated his idea of progress isn’t progressing and the CFMMEU members must be sitting around twiddling their thumbs huh?

Unbelievable that Bec Cody thinks Canberrans can trust the current ACT government more than the NCA to provide the character they want. A government that describes a clump of trees as underutilised space. I can’t imagine what they would do if they got control of Parkes and the lake. Well, actually, I can imagine it, and it horrifies me.

Bearing in mind that, given the chance, the majority of Canberrans (i.e. those not on the ACT Government payroll) would very likely vote to abolish self-government, and that the majority of Australians (the 98% or so who do not live in Canberra) would happily abolish Canberra, the idea of abolishing things that are currently inconvenient may not be a smart precedent.

When you cut through the bulldust about the proportion of Canberrans not (directly) employed by government, the fact is that the ACT Government is essentially a glorified strata manager for the Canberra component of the federal civilian and military workforce, and for tertiary institutions which are heavily reliant on federal funding and policies (especially re overseas students) – so it’s hardly surprising that a federal government of either persuasion would want to place some constraints on it.

Perhaps the most telling aspect of the original post is that it’s emblematic of a government which has become obsessed with property development, almost as an end in itself, and certainly as an illusory substitute for sustainable fiscal and economic policies.

So, Bec Cody has laid bare to Canberrans the actual agenda of the Barr Government: trash Canberra’s heritage and encourage Geocon to build more and more cheap flats (anyone who has been inside their mean little flats with low ceilings and poor design, but promoted with truth-deficit neuro-marketing, won’t want Geocon anywhere near the core of Canberra) . Let me remind you, Bec Cody, that the only reason Mt Ainslie isn’t infested with houses all the way up is that it was under the protection of the NCA when the ACT Government (yep – your Legislative Assembly colleagues) proposed carving it up into prestige housing, and the NCA sent the local government packing. As for your whinge about the vista along Anzac Parade and to Parliament House – what exactly is the problem with having a city with protected views, publicly owned landscape and amazing urban vistas?

Cody just wants to abolish the NCA so Labor can do whatever they want – ie light rail and the building up of high density living around it. The suburbs either side of Adelaide Avenue are lovely – curtin, deakin, hughes – and hardly a ‘wasteland.’ I think Bec Cody mistakenly believes that we all wanted the light rail and are now desperate for stage 2. She may not appreciate our beautiful city but most of us do.

Should Bec Cody be focusing on the Urban areas she can control, rather than the areas that she can’t?

I would think that reinstating the Bus routes that she took away and ensuring the outer suburbs from Tuggeranong to West Belconnen to Gungahlin have adequate facilities and services would be a better use of her time and effort.

I would say it was of far more urgency that we boot ACT Labor out of power. Not like you have any real power though, while Comrade Rattenbury has you over a barrel and you are too scared to say no to his crazy schemes because you are scared he will switch sides.

Pathetic.