13 November 2015

Own your own block of Whitlam, ACT

| Charlotte
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Gough Whitlam

First came The Whitlams with memorable tunes like No Aphrodisiac and Gough. Now you can own a your own little piece of Whitlam, ACT.

The ACT Place Names Committee has unanimously agreed to name a new suburb in Molonglo after Gough Whitlam, and just over a year after the 21st prime minister’s death, Chief Minister Andrew Barr has announced that residents will begin moving into Whitlam within five years.

“I am delighted that the Nation’s Capital will commemorate one of Australia’s outstanding Prime Ministers, the Honourable Edward Gough Whitlam AC QC in the naming of Canberra’s newest suburb,” Mr Barr said.

“Gough Whitlam’s contribution to Australia was huge, he changed our nation forever, and I am pleased our city can mark his legacy in this way.”

The Whitlams

The new suburb isn’t alone in being named after the late great PM. Sydney band the Whitlams have been cashing in on its kudos since 1992. Lead singer of the Whitlams Tim Freedman loved bands with family names, like the Smiths.

“I thought, the Whitlams, no one’s done that. I’ll be able to steal all the goodwill that Australia holds in reserve for Gough Whitlam,” he told Bernard Zuel at The Sydney Morning Herald in 2000.

The second single from The Whitlams debut album was a tribute to Whitlam entitled Gough.

The suburb of Whitlam will be part of the Molonglo Valley Stage 3 subdivision, and have views to the Molonglo River and the Brindabella Ranges.

Whitlam

Whitlam was a 10-year-old when his father was transferred to the new Federal capital in 1926. The family lived in Forrest and Gough attended nearby Telopea Park Intermediate High School. He was editor of the school magazine, the Telopea.

The PM-to-be completed the leaving certificate in 1931 but at 15 was considered too young to go to university. He attended Canberra Grammar School to further his grounding in the classics by studying Ancient Greek, enrolling at the University of Sydney in 1935.

Minister for Planning Mick Gentleman said Whitlam had in 2010 given the ACT Place Names Committee his personal permission for his name to be commemorated as a suburb name in the ACT.

“Gough was a great man, and a great political activist who, along with his wife Margaret achieved great outcomes for Australians that we are still thankful for today,” Mr Gentleman said.

“Gough Whitlam passed away on 21 October 2014 and the subsequent decision to name the Canberra suburb has been welcomed by his family.

“Under the current indicative land release program, the first release of 500 dwellings in Whitlam will commence in 2018-19 with occupancy expected the following year.”

Whitlam

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Before they build this suburb I hope they hurry up and put 2 lanes both ways on William Hovell Drive, it’s a disgrace of a road and will only become worse with a new suburb

lovechocolatte said :

It’s a hostile takeover of my land – partly being built on there – and I don’t want to sell! My sheep and cattle don’t want a smaller block – like Gough – they want to live life large and free!

Whatever happens, don’t let them take the herb garden.
“Maintain the sage!”

lovechocolatte said :

It’s a hostile takeover of my land – partly being built on there – and I don’t want to sell! My sheep and cattle don’t want a smaller block – like Gough – they want to live life large and free!

Typical Labor stealing off a people, even when dead,

lovechocolatte2:46 pm 12 Nov 15

It’s a hostile takeover of my land – partly being built on there – and I don’t want to sell! My sheep and cattle don’t want a smaller block – like Gough – they want to live life large and free!

arescarti42 said :

Sandman said :

Yeah, I’m sure the developers and builders are keen for nice big half acre blocks with sensible cost effective houses on them.
The Government does what the industry wants , in order to “create jobs and boost the economy”. Of course, for the developers every new job created and every extra truckload of materials is another thing they can add their markup to and increase profits.

Nonsense, just have a look at the new suburbs in the ACT!

Wright, Combs, Lawson, Bonner, Moncrieff, Jacka, Throsby; they’re ALL being developed by the ACT Government’s Land Development Agency! Industry isn’t making a cent off any of them!

In a competitive market with an absence of government interference, industry will produce whatever people want. If people want to buy a half acre lot, then that’s what industry will produce. If people want a tiny house on a 250m^2 lot, then that’s what industry will produce. That’s how markets work.

The problem is we don’t have a market, we have a government that has an absolute monopoly on the supply of residential land, and has no problem abusing that monopoly power to extort as much money as it can out of new home buyers.

But that is how it works everywhere. In the ACT though the land is limited, they only tend to sell medium and high density zoned areas to developers. A developer can buy land in other states, but if the government doesn’t want them to develop it, they can stop them from doing so. I could not imagine the mess we’d have in the ACT if developers had free reign on what they built and where. If people stopped buying small blocks and putting big houses on them, then things would change but there is always enough people to make the small blocks sell. It could be argued in a sustainable society it is a good thing and having large communal parks rather than everyone having their own large yard and wasting space. Its a foreign concept in Australia as we have a lot of space. The ACT is probably the only jurisdiction where space isn’t freely available, without getting rid of nature parks etc.

Holden Caulfield said :

It’s for you Gough!

Are they supplying the EGW “aura” to all blocks?
http://www.smh.com.au/comment/farewell-gough-whitlam-friend-comrade-and-reformer-20141105-11h816.html

Sandman said :

Yeah, I’m sure the developers and builders are keen for nice big half acre blocks with sensible cost effective houses on them.
The Government does what the industry wants , in order to “create jobs and boost the economy”. Of course, for the developers every new job created and every extra truckload of materials is another thing they can add their markup to and increase profits.

Nonsense, just have a look at the new suburbs in the ACT!

Wright, Combs, Lawson, Bonner, Moncrieff, Jacka, Throsby; they’re ALL being developed by the ACT Government’s Land Development Agency! Industry isn’t making a cent off any of them!

In a competitive market with an absence of government interference, industry will produce whatever people want. If people want to buy a half acre lot, then that’s what industry will produce. If people want a tiny house on a 250m^2 lot, then that’s what industry will produce. That’s how markets work.

The problem is we don’t have a market, we have a government that has an absolute monopoly on the supply of residential land, and has no problem abusing that monopoly power to extort as much money as it can out of new home buyers.

David_Wedgwood7:47 am 10 Nov 15

It would be an even greater and more appropriate recognition if the Augmented Electoral Redistribution Committee for the ACT renamed the electorate of Canberra as Whitlam and told the NSW Redistribution Committee that renaming Throsby as Whitlam (because that was the soft option) is inappropriate. There is no connection between EGW and the Throsby area, whereas the Whitlam connection with Canberra spans three generations of his family.

Holden Caulfield8:45 pm 09 Nov 15

It’s for you Gough!

arescarti42 said :

That’s the ACT Government doing that in their unholy quest to squeeze every drop of blood out of Canberra’s new home buyers, not the development industry.

Were the Government to let go of their exploitative monopoly on new residential land sales and leave things to the market, you’d be able to buy a block of land for less than $100k, and in sizes from 1000m^2.

Instead we’re stuck with the Marxist model of the Government deciding what housing is produced, where it is produced, how much is produced, and how much it costs.

Yeah, I’m sure the developers and builders are keen for nice big half acre blocks with sensible cost effective houses on them.
The Government does what the industry wants , in order to “create jobs and boost the economy”. Of course, for the developers every new job created and every extra truckload of materials is another thing they can add their markup to and increase profits.

When the time comes for a Rudd suburb, please call it Kevin!

Couldn’t happen too soon all that green open space has been sitting there mocking Canberrans, daring us to do something about it.

Mark of Sydney said :

dungfungus said :

wildturkeycanoe said :

Wow! Do we really need more suburbs in Canberra? I cannot for the life of me figure out who is buying all these houses when job prospects are so gloomy right now. Obviously not PS staff with the reduction in numbers there, where is all the money coming from [Apart from selling Ice]?

The money, like the materials that are used to build and furnish the houses, comes from China.
Without the foreign money coming into the Canberra, the housing industry would collapse.
I thought the commercial and industrial side was bad but I am noticing a lot more vacant residences in all parts of Canberra.
The real estate agents will react by saying “now is a good time to buy”.

You two need to get out of Tuggeranong a bit more. Everywhere else the local economy seems to have bounced back after last year’s drop in confidence. Population growth has strengthened, business confidence is stronger, foreigners are seeing opportunities in local real estate, baby boomers who have taken redundancy (and have stayed on in Canberra) are being replaced by expanded numbers of graduates. To top it all off, a new centrist government has dropped its predecessor’s anti-Canberra rhetoric.

Judging by the vibe coming out of Tuggers at the moment, ACT Labor might well take a hit there next year, but it’s not at all clear that this will be replicated elsewhere.

“foreigners are seeing opportunities in local real estate,”……………
Isn’t that what I said is holding Canberra up? (at the moment, that is).

I wonder how big the blocks might be. The blocks at the old Belconnen golf course are to be flogged off with a ‘mid size ‘ block of 350 squ mtrs going for ave 225K .. ( about 650 bucks per square metre )

And if thats too big for your needs out at Belco there will be available a ‘compact’ block of 250 squ mtrs.

The local bunnings won’t be selling to many lawnmowers to them

Deref said :

Take it out of the hands of the development industry (motto: “Building tomorrow’s slums today!”). Make the blocks big enough to swing a cat or a cricket bat or plant a tree; align them north-south; put solar cells on all the roofs and design mandate eaves that they let in the winter sun and keep it out in summer..

That’s the ACT Government doing that in their unholy quest to squeeze every drop of blood out of Canberra’s new home buyers, not the development industry.

Were the Government to let go of their exploitative monopoly on new residential land sales and leave things to the market, you’d be able to buy a block of land for less than $100k, and in sizes from 1000m^2.

Instead we’re stuck with the Marxist model of the Government deciding what housing is produced, where it is produced, how much is produced, and how much it costs.

Deref said :

Fantastic! I’d love to live there, though I fear it’ll just be another cookie-cutter urban wasteland of tiny blocks and McMansions.

Take it out of the hands of the development industry (motto: “Building tomorrow’s slums today!”). Make the blocks big enough to swing a cat or a cricket bat or plant a tree; align them north-south; put solar cells on all the roofs and design mandate eaves that they let in the winter sun and keep it out in summer. Plant the streets with shade trees and put separate footpaths and bike paths in them. Do justice to the great man.

What about the mandatory double glazing?

Mark of Sydney3:23 pm 09 Nov 15

dungfungus said :

wildturkeycanoe said :

Wow! Do we really need more suburbs in Canberra? I cannot for the life of me figure out who is buying all these houses when job prospects are so gloomy right now. Obviously not PS staff with the reduction in numbers there, where is all the money coming from [Apart from selling Ice]?

The money, like the materials that are used to build and furnish the houses, comes from China.
Without the foreign money coming into the Canberra, the housing industry would collapse.
I thought the commercial and industrial side was bad but I am noticing a lot more vacant residences in all parts of Canberra.
The real estate agents will react by saying “now is a good time to buy”.

You two need to get out of Tuggeranong a bit more. Everywhere else the local economy seems to have bounced back after last year’s drop in confidence. Population growth has strengthened, business confidence is stronger, foreigners are seeing opportunities in local real estate, baby boomers who have taken redundancy (and have stayed on in Canberra) are being replaced by expanded numbers of graduates. To top it all off, a new centrist government has dropped its predecessor’s anti-Canberra rhetoric.

Judging by the vibe coming out of Tuggers at the moment, ACT Labor might well take a hit there next year, but it’s not at all clear that this will be replicated elsewhere.

justsomeaussie3:10 pm 09 Nov 15

Deref said :

Fantastic! I’d love to live there, though I fear it’ll just be another cookie-cutter urban wasteland of tiny blocks and McMansions.

Take it out of the hands of the development industry (motto: “Building tomorrow’s slums today!”). Make the blocks big enough to swing a cat or a cricket bat or plant a tree; align them north-south; put solar cells on all the roofs and design mandate eaves that they let in the winter sun and keep it out in summer. Plant the streets with shade trees and put separate footpaths and bike paths in them. Do justice to the great man.

So you mean Googong. Well planned. Lots of vacant spaces, far bigger blocks than in the ACT and far cheaper. 25 minute drive to civic. A paid community manager who organises events, a community website, community garden and planned to have 20,000 people and shops the size of Manuka.

Comared the concrete jungles and urban wasteland of Wright and Combs and Gungahlin where your neighbours roof touches yours and there is no road infrastructure it’s practically a dreamland.

I was surprised there were no commemorations for the first anniversary of Gough’s death. No mention at all in the media, no acknowledgement whatsoever. This is in contrast to the first anniversary of the death of a certain cricketer which has already received fulsome coverage, including a double page spread in today’s Daily Telegraph.

Fantastic! I’d love to live there, though I fear it’ll just be another cookie-cutter urban wasteland of tiny blocks and McMansions.

Take it out of the hands of the development industry (motto: “Building tomorrow’s slums today!”). Make the blocks big enough to swing a cat or a cricket bat or plant a tree; align them north-south; put solar cells on all the roofs and design mandate eaves that they let in the winter sun and keep it out in summer. Plant the streets with shade trees and put separate footpaths and bike paths in them. Do justice to the great man.

wildturkeycanoe said :

Wow! Do we really need more suburbs in Canberra? I cannot for the life of me figure out who is buying all these houses when job prospects are so gloomy right now. Obviously not PS staff with the reduction in numbers there, where is all the money coming from [Apart from selling Ice]?

The money, like the materials that are used to build and furnish the houses, comes from China.
Without the foreign money coming into the Canberra, the housing industry would collapse.
I thought the commercial and industrial side was bad but I am noticing a lot more vacant residences in all parts of Canberra.
The real estate agents will react by saying “now is a good time to buy”.

wildturkeycanoe11:55 am 09 Nov 15

Wow! Do we really need more suburbs in Canberra? I cannot for the life of me figure out who is buying all these houses when job prospects are so gloomy right now. Obviously not PS staff with the reduction in numbers there, where is all the money coming from [Apart from selling Ice]?

If by “own” you meant “lease”.

Charlotte Harper11:40 am 09 Nov 15

Quite right, RiotFrog.

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