David Smith (Bean, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

This year, the National Arboretum celebrates 10 years since it opened. It's a national ecological gem, with the best views in Canberra, and it's located in my electorate of Bean. The National Arboretum came about due to dramatic circumstance. In 2003, Canberra was subject to disastrous bushfires. Communities were left devastated and almost 250 hectares of plantation pines in the Molonglo Valley were razed. But from those ashes the National Arboretum arose. When it first opened in 2013, initial predictions had visitor numbers at more than one million in the first five years. It would actually be six million.

The arboretum benefits from the hard work of over 900 staff and volunteers, and I thank them for their extraordinary commitment. The arboretum remains a symbol of Canberra's post-2003 bushfire recovery, and this upcoming long weekend will see many families from my electorate of Bean and around Canberra come to enjoy the arboretum for picnics, walks, tours and even hot air ballooning.

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