The Centre for a Better Canberra has launched and it wants your feedback on what a better Canberra would look like. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
Canberra has moved beyond a tipping point. Since its centenary a decade ago, the sleepy country town vibe has long since been shed.
Rightly, though, we still cling on to the best parts of the country town vibe that makes Canberra unique.
Just look at the joint effort by three former Chief Ministers to get new signs put up in suburbs to tell the stories of the politicians they’re named after.
At the same time as this venture, the ACT moved forward with nation-leading policy reform in drug decriminalisation and building infrastructure at a pace and scale never seen before.
The new bridge over the Molonglo River awarded extra funding recently would rival the biggest infrastructure projects ever built by the ACT Government if it had been built only 15 years ago.
The Canberra of today boasts an economy larger than Tasmania, with a population that is on track to overtake it within our working lives.
The public sector makes up a smaller percentage of the ACT’s workforce every year – education, tourism and advanced manufacturing are growing apace.
Canberrans have pride in their city and a growing confidence that, before the centenary, was rare – Canberrans were more likely than anyone to bag out their own city. Now we will argue with an Italian that our region’s Sangiovese is the best in the world.
Canberra has the great benefit of hosting the nation’s key decision-makers and, as a result, is able to attract a range of national thinking bodies either permanently or as regular visitors to our city.
We host peak bodies, trade associations and research institutes, all of which are developing policy and generating new ideas, but collectively, they don’t see Canberra as their home.
So it’s time a city-state of our size and scale had an independent think tank to look ahead at the challenges facing our city and the opportunities for us to do things differently and to do them better.
Canberra is a truly great place but the benefits of Canberra aren’t always felt by everyone and, without constant improvement, we risk missing opportunities and falling behind.
The newly launched Centre for a Better Canberra aims to fill this gap.
The University of Canberra (UC) is Canberra’s university – it always has been.
The core purpose of a university is to create and share knowledge, and UC has for a long time been a partner of many of the existing groups in Canberra working to advocate for a better city from their own perspectives, whether it’s the Canberra Business Chamber, the Tourism Leaders Forum, sports teams, community groups or UC’s own research institutes.
Centre for a Better Canberra Associate Director of Civic Leadership Jan Shaddock, Director Martin Greenwood and Community Engagement Specialist Gonzalo Cubillo De Regoyos. Photo: University of Canberra.
Having the history and depth of relationship with these partners means the Centre for a Better Canberra, as a think tank for Canberra, will be able to draw on their expertise and inputs while being able to keep a whole of community perspective.
Having the backing of UC also gives the Centre the capacity to engage across the full spectrum of policy issues.
If one thing has come through clearly since the Centre’s launch in November, Canberrans want to talk about Planning (with a capital P), and while it is a critical issue, we can’t miss the opportunity to think about what the future of our health system, education, transport, economy, culture and many other things will look like as our city grows and we try to keep the best of Canberra in a changing world.
We’ve got an ambitious agenda, we’re open to your ideas and your feedback and we’d welcome you to sign up and help us as we work on a positive vision for an even better Canberra.
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