The proposal for Thompson on the river – Ask Freddy

K320Scania said :

So you’re saying we need to spread out Canberra even more? Have you considered how people are going to get to their place of work? More roads?
I highly doubt you’ll be able to answer these questions, but I’m open to answers.

As for you claiming that the Greens and environmentalists will block any move to expand Tuggeranong, that’s simply not true. They just don’t want our environment to be vandalised, and if you read the online Government consultation, you would have seen that most of the comments opposed the development and wanted the area to stay as it is and not be trashed by a badly thought out housing plan.

Canberra will eventually fill up. The way you and others harp on about getting to work, you would think there were 2,000,000 people here already – not 380,000. They will do what everyone else does, use public transport, cycle, walk, car share, get taxis/Uber and of course – drive. Of course the Greens & environmentalists will block any move to expand Tuggers – you have already done that and use of terms like “they just don’t want our environment to be vandalised”, proves the point.

Going by your logic, all expansion of development into Gunners and Molonglo should be immediately stopped too ’cause “how are those people going to get to work”.

rommeldog56 said :

K320Scania said :

I find it interesting that you’re advocating for ‘environment protection’ when you and your government approved of a road which went straight through a nature park not so long ago…

Tuggeranong needs to expand into Thompson or elsewhere – if only to put up more ugly high rises. No doubt the greens/environmentalists will find the endangered blind, legless, toothless, wingless bumble bee moth where ever it is proposed that Tuggeranong expand into.

Thompson should go ahead. Any effects on the river should be able to be mitigated through effective planning.

So you’re saying we need to spread out Canberra even more? Have you considered how people are going to get to their place of work? More roads?
I highly doubt you’ll be able to answer these questions, but I’m open to answers.

As for you claiming that the Greens and environmentalists will block any move to expand Tuggeranong, that’s simply not true. They just don’t want our environment to be vandalised, and if you read the online Government consultation, you would have seen that most of the comments opposed the development and wanted the area to stay as it is and not be trashed by a badly thought out housing plan.

rommeldog56 said :

K320Scania said :

I find it interesting that you’re advocating for ‘environment protection’ when you and your government approved of a road which went straight through a nature park not so long ago…

Tuggeranong needs to expand into Thompson or elsewhere – if only to put up more ugly high rises. No doubt the greens/environmentalists will find the endangered blind, legless, toothless, wingless bumble bee moth where ever it is proposed that Tuggeranong expand into.

Thompson should go ahead. Any effects on the river should be able to be mitigated through effective planning.

The Tuggeranong Town Centre (the place with two time zones) needs support and the nearby proposed Thompson development would help.
But I would draw the line there.
The (ugly) medium density apartments are now invading the other parts of the town centre but the shops are still empty.
Fortunately, there are some large Federal agencies in Tuggers and this balances out the traffic flows morning and evening.
I rather like it the way it is. I certainly don’t want to see it descend into a pop-up hipster type vista like Canberra City has become.
I would not be surprised to see the incoming, everGreen Labor government drop heaps of public housing on us in the new term. It would be a win-win for them as the die-hard Liberal voters would be punished and more Labor voters would be migrated here.

K320Scania said :

I find it interesting that you’re advocating for ‘environment protection’ when you and your government approved of a road which went straight through a nature park not so long ago…

Tuggeranong needs to expand into Thompson or elsewhere – if only to put up more ugly high rises. No doubt the greens/environmentalists will find the endangered blind, legless, toothless, wingless bumble bee moth where ever it is proposed that Tuggeranong expand into.

Thompson should go ahead. Any effects on the river should be able to be mitigated through effective planning.

I find it interesting that you’re advocating for ‘environment protection’ when you and your government approved of a road which went straight through a nature park not so long ago…

chewy14 said :

dungfungus said :

bj_ACT said :

It’s a difficult tight rope that this development has to cross.

Tuggeranong absolutely has to have some new development somewhere in the area to stop it socially and economically sliding off the cliff. Canberra is slowly creating its own Western Sydney in Tuggers and it will be harder to fix the situation the further it goes. Unemployment has doubled in Kambah since 2008, NAPLAN School performances are at an all time low, NEWSTART payment numbers have increased by 20% and mortgage default in the area is at record levels. Some housing or Infrastructure investment to attract young families to the Tuggeranong area must happen to ensure a balanced lifecycle for the suburbs.

But where is there the room to build a new suburb in Tuggeranong? Look on Google maps and you will see housing butts up hard against Nature Reserve almost everywhere except the proposed Thomson development or below Banks in the very far South.

The Environmental concerns were always an interesting one and I guess you need a truly independent expert to validate it. The New development at Coombs is much closer to the Molonglo River than the Thompson suburb was to the Murrumbidgee (and the both rivers join each other). The Murrumbidgee further downstream has lots of Towns, Farms and new Development built or being built right up to it’s river banks so it seems strange to me that the Thompson development was sold as the issue to cause so much damage, when all the other issues and development for the river seem to be ignored.

In Short, I think the proposed Thompson development is rightly a no go. But something will have to be done development wise to ensure Tuggeranong remains a good place for young people and young families (not just a good place for recent retirees with good pensions and their house paid off).

“……recent retirees with good pensions and their house paid off….”

Give it a rest, eh? We still pay the high rates/land taxes everyone else does.
Some of us have actually self-funded our retirement wheras thousands of ACT public servants have only unfunded superannuation.

Those ACT public servants have funded their own retirements in the same way you claim to have.

It’s the government who specifically didn’t fund them at the time, nothing to do with the individual workers.

I am talking about the old defined benefit schemes which were non-contributory.
You are right, they weren’t funded at the time so what guarantee is there that the “workers” will get what they believe is their entitlement?

dungfungus said :

bj_ACT said :

It’s a difficult tight rope that this development has to cross.

Tuggeranong absolutely has to have some new development somewhere in the area to stop it socially and economically sliding off the cliff. Canberra is slowly creating its own Western Sydney in Tuggers and it will be harder to fix the situation the further it goes. Unemployment has doubled in Kambah since 2008, NAPLAN School performances are at an all time low, NEWSTART payment numbers have increased by 20% and mortgage default in the area is at record levels. Some housing or Infrastructure investment to attract young families to the Tuggeranong area must happen to ensure a balanced lifecycle for the suburbs.

But where is there the room to build a new suburb in Tuggeranong? Look on Google maps and you will see housing butts up hard against Nature Reserve almost everywhere except the proposed Thomson development or below Banks in the very far South.

The Environmental concerns were always an interesting one and I guess you need a truly independent expert to validate it. The New development at Coombs is much closer to the Molonglo River than the Thompson suburb was to the Murrumbidgee (and the both rivers join each other). The Murrumbidgee further downstream has lots of Towns, Farms and new Development built or being built right up to it’s river banks so it seems strange to me that the Thompson development was sold as the issue to cause so much damage, when all the other issues and development for the river seem to be ignored.

In Short, I think the proposed Thompson development is rightly a no go. But something will have to be done development wise to ensure Tuggeranong remains a good place for young people and young families (not just a good place for recent retirees with good pensions and their house paid off).

“……recent retirees with good pensions and their house paid off….”

Give it a rest, eh? We still pay the high rates/land taxes everyone else does.
Some of us have actually self-funded our retirement wheras thousands of ACT public servants have only unfunded superannuation.

Yes like you, I will be a self funded retiree through a non government job when I get to retire. But these comments are not about you or me. It was about us Tuggers residents “not thinking just about ourselves” and working on creating a viable community for everyone.

My comments were about the changing demographic mix of Tuggeranong and the effect that will have on Government services and Infrastructure. We need a mix of jobs, services, education institutions and infrastructure to encourage young middle class families and newlyweds to move to Tuggeranong. We need new services etc to support ageing residents as well.

If you think Tuggeranong doesn’t need new housing developments, improved schools and more jobs (because they are of no direct benefit to you) then fair enough. But I disagree.

dungfungus said :

bj_ACT said :

It’s a difficult tight rope that this development has to cross.

Tuggeranong absolutely has to have some new development somewhere in the area to stop it socially and economically sliding off the cliff. Canberra is slowly creating its own Western Sydney in Tuggers and it will be harder to fix the situation the further it goes. Unemployment has doubled in Kambah since 2008, NAPLAN School performances are at an all time low, NEWSTART payment numbers have increased by 20% and mortgage default in the area is at record levels. Some housing or Infrastructure investment to attract young families to the Tuggeranong area must happen to ensure a balanced lifecycle for the suburbs.

But where is there the room to build a new suburb in Tuggeranong? Look on Google maps and you will see housing butts up hard against Nature Reserve almost everywhere except the proposed Thomson development or below Banks in the very far South.

The Environmental concerns were always an interesting one and I guess you need a truly independent expert to validate it. The New development at Coombs is much closer to the Molonglo River than the Thompson suburb was to the Murrumbidgee (and the both rivers join each other). The Murrumbidgee further downstream has lots of Towns, Farms and new Development built or being built right up to it’s river banks so it seems strange to me that the Thompson development was sold as the issue to cause so much damage, when all the other issues and development for the river seem to be ignored.

In Short, I think the proposed Thompson development is rightly a no go. But something will have to be done development wise to ensure Tuggeranong remains a good place for young people and young families (not just a good place for recent retirees with good pensions and their house paid off).

“……recent retirees with good pensions and their house paid off….”

Give it a rest, eh? We still pay the high rates/land taxes everyone else does.
Some of us have actually self-funded our retirement wheras thousands of ACT public servants have only unfunded superannuation.

Those ACT public servants have funded their own retirements in the same way you claim to have.

It’s the government who specifically didn’t fund them at the time, nothing to do with the individual workers.

bj_ACT said :

It’s a difficult tight rope that this development has to cross.

Tuggeranong absolutely has to have some new development somewhere in the area to stop it socially and economically sliding off the cliff. Canberra is slowly creating its own Western Sydney in Tuggers and it will be harder to fix the situation the further it goes. Unemployment has doubled in Kambah since 2008, NAPLAN School performances are at an all time low, NEWSTART payment numbers have increased by 20% and mortgage default in the area is at record levels. Some housing or Infrastructure investment to attract young families to the Tuggeranong area must happen to ensure a balanced lifecycle for the suburbs.

But where is there the room to build a new suburb in Tuggeranong? Look on Google maps and you will see housing butts up hard against Nature Reserve almost everywhere except the proposed Thomson development or below Banks in the very far South.

The Environmental concerns were always an interesting one and I guess you need a truly independent expert to validate it. The New development at Coombs is much closer to the Molonglo River than the Thompson suburb was to the Murrumbidgee (and the both rivers join each other). The Murrumbidgee further downstream has lots of Towns, Farms and new Development built or being built right up to it’s river banks so it seems strange to me that the Thompson development was sold as the issue to cause so much damage, when all the other issues and development for the river seem to be ignored.

In Short, I think the proposed Thompson development is rightly a no go. But something will have to be done development wise to ensure Tuggeranong remains a good place for young people and young families (not just a good place for recent retirees with good pensions and their house paid off).

“……recent retirees with good pensions and their house paid off….”

Give it a rest, eh? We still pay the high rates/land taxes everyone else does.
Some of us have actually self-funded our retirement wheras thousands of ACT public servants have only unfunded superannuation.

bj_ACT said :

It’s a difficult tight rope that this development has to cross.

Tuggeranong absolutely has to have some new development somewhere in the area to stop it socially and economically sliding off the cliff. Canberra is slowly creating its own Western Sydney in Tuggers and it will be harder to fix the situation the further it goes. Unemployment has doubled in Kambah since 2008, NAPLAN School performances are at an all time low, NEWSTART payment numbers have increased by 20% and mortgage default in the area is at record levels. Some housing or Infrastructure investment to attract young families to the Tuggeranong area must happen to ensure a balanced lifecycle for the suburbs.

My comment should not be viewed as Tuggeranong bashing, but really Tuggeranong has never really prospered. Few things have led to this IMO. Firstly being a double hop from the city to the major government work place, mostly Barton and the Russell areas. Secondly a good deal of the population being relatively close to Woden so makes going there for the wider services easier. Thirdly town centre built off to the side.

Doubt building a single new suburb will make much difference at all, forgetting