Gai Brodtmann (Canberra, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today all of Australia has found out what we Canberrans have always known—Canberra is Australia's most liveable city. The results of Auspoll's annual survey My city: the people's verdict were released today, and Canberra has come out on top. The survey asked over 5,000 Australians in every capital city, as well as Wollongong and Newcastle, to rank their city against a set of 17 attributes. Canberra shone when it came to plentiful outdoor recreational spaces, a clean city with low pollution, a safe city and a city with access to good health care, good schools and good universities. Today I invite all those Australians outside of Canberra to come and experience Canberra for yourselves. This really is a great place to live, and Canberrans are rightfully proud of our beloved city.

The report also highlights that housing affordability remains an issue for Canberra, and the Property Council has called on the ACT government to think more creatively about how to increase the supply of homes. My electorate office is in Tuggeranong, where at the moment we have a number of empty office buildings in the town centre. One way we could be more creative in terms of housing supply is to look at how commercial space can be turned into residential space. In the case of Tuggeranong, this would not only increase the supply of affordable housing but enliven the Tuggeranong town centre. I look forward to taking up this issue with the ACT government.