Stand up interview Kings Park

JOURNALIST: How much is it going to cost, Minister?

KRISTY MCBAIN: Consultations are open for a couple of weeks and at the end of that consultation we’ll then finalise the design. The budget will be allocated following that.

JOURNALIST: This is part of the lake, almost a forgotten area?

MCBAIN: I don’t think so. It’s one of the most heavily utilised parts of the entire lake. Personally, I’ve spent time at the accessible playground up there. Obviously, the Carillon is a major drawcard, and we see people picnicking around here frequently, or visiting one of the many memorials on this side of the lake. What we’re trying to do is give a good user experience, which is why we’re upgrading this section.

JOURNALIST: Well, it just looks like it needs bit of love. Do you agree with that?

MCBAIN: Absolutely. We want to make sure we give it some love. We want it to give a good user experience. We know people love being in and around the lake, especially in spring and summer, and we want to give them the best options they have.

JOURNALIST: Sally, you’ve been wanting to activate the lake. No secret. I see there’s also plans for a café here as well.

SALLY BARNES: So, this is the last stage. This is called Stage 3. Stage 1 was the improvement to the car parking up at Boundless, because we had feedback from the public that the playground was great but they couldn’t get to it. We did that and it’s quite beautiful.

The second stage was to close off Wendouree Drive to cars, that through traffic, to sort of start to separate the commuter cyclists and the pedestrians. There’s still a bit to go. This is that last stage of both making it safer but more beautiful. We’ve also got plans around canopy cover and more plantings and also improving the access on and off Kings Avenue. There’s an option for a kiosk, there’s better event space, maybe better toilets. All of the things you need in a modern park.

JOURNALIST: This is the start of the bridge walk. Will that –

BARNES: Or the end.

JOURNALIST: Will it popularise that, that kind of walking event now?

BARNES: Well, I think it was COVID that said to us as a planning organisation, “Jeepers, if this is the future, so even when COVID’s over, with population growth and people more conscious about healthy living and active travel, if this is what it’s going to look like in the future, we’d better get our skates on and start planning for it.” So this is that futureproofing for that future of more people in Canberra and hopefully more visitors.

MCBAIN: And more events.

BARNES: And more events. And more coffee. Although I have to tell you, I’m still hoping there’s a new café down there. A café here, around to two cafes every six or 700 metres, so that you can have a caffeine fix on the Central Basin.

JOURNALIST: Tough competition. I’m told there’s going to be a car park going in there.

BARNES: The idea is like a lot of parks around the world. The idea is to pull the cars out to the side. So we’ve already pulled them out near Blundells, to pull the cars out here. And, in fact, we’re adding car parks. So pulling it out and utilising this very attractive, rabbit-friendly area, we’ll add to the car parks for regular cars but for buses. And then we’ve also got plans for people who don’t have the ability to walk a long way to park closer to the event. So it sorts out those parking issues as well.

The other thing you may not have noticed, but there’s not a bus stop on this side of Kings Avenue. So in the plans, we’ve put a proposal for a temporary room for a bus stop that can be used particularly for events so you can catch the bus safely here.

JOURNALIST: Now whenever people see things happening by the lake, they always worry about the trees.

PRUE DOWN, PROJECT MANAGER: Although there will be some trees that will necessarily need to move, we have a policy that we don’t just take them out and not replace them with in-fact more. So we will be increasing the tree cover where we can, which is a good thing for the environment as well.

JOURNALIST: Minister, you were talking about a lovely dream space where people can relax?

MCBAIN: We want to create a really lovely green event space that has the national institutions in the foreground. An opportunity for people to come down and enjoy this end of the park.

JOURNALIST: What kind of events are we talking about at this stage?

SALLY BARNES: Music, hospitality, a whole range of adventures.

MCBAIN: We’ve already seen pop-up vans that are here who bring live music to the area. What we want to do is encourage the continued use of that. It could be anything really. We just want to provide a good setting for people to activate the park more.

JOURNALIST: And what kind of timeline are you looking at? When do you want to have it all done?

BARNES: The plan is to get feedback from the community on the concept, on the design then to finalise the design. Then we’ve got to do costings on that final design. And that costing will then help us plan it maybe over a few years, but as long as it’s in those bite chunks. If you don’t have the plan, you can’t get started.

JOURNALIST: Joint federal and Territory money? No ACT component?

BARNES: No.

MCBAIN: The NCA will be doing this as part of their budget.

JOURNALIST: All right. Thank you.