Serious doubt has arisen about where, or even if, an extension to Gungahlin Drive should be built. It arises out of new preliminary research done by the Australian Institute of Sport. Several conflicting interests are at stake. The people of Gungahlin are desperate to get improved transport to other parts of Canberra. The people of the inner north are concerned that no freeway should cut through bushland near them. The Australian Sports Commission which has charge of the Australian Institute of Sport is concerned that a freeway close to the institute would affect athletes’ training and thereby the future of the whole institute.
Two governments have a role. The role of the ACT Government is to propose and give effect to transport options for the people of this city. The role of the Federal Government is twofold. First as custodian of the capital city for all Australians it must ensure that the major transport systems within it are workable and to make sure that the significant national interests in it are protected – in particular the preservation national capital open space system that ensures rampant development does not crawl up the hilltops as in many other cities. Secondly, it has a role to look after the interests of the major national institutions that reside in Canberra – including the Australian Institute of Sport.
It would be easy for both of those governments to play politics over the issue – to score cheap points from each other to each others’ discomfort. To some extent that has already happened. The Federal Coalition Government wants to make the local Labor Government look foolish, inept and a breacher of promises. The local Labor Government would like to paint the Federal Government as using its power to deny the interests of the people of Gungahlin to get a freeway to the other parts of Canberra.
It is likely that in the next few months emotion and political point-scoring will play a greater role in determining what should be done rather than hard fact and the overall best interests of Canberrans and Australians in general.
The Australian Institute of Sport has put a powerful argument that its athletes will be affected by a freeway on either side of it, particularly on the western side. It is easy to point to other places where athletes train and compete and say those places are more affected by road pollution than even the worst-case Gungahlin Drive scenario. Maybe. But the trouble is that for Canberra to retain the cutting edge to attract the national sports bodies who choose where to train it must have a near perfect natural environment. If all other things are equal they will not choose Canberra. The ACT Government must recognise this.
The national government, too, must recognise the importance of the national sporting body. It is not good enough for it to just sling disparaging remarks at the ACT Government. Rather it should acknowledge that it must join the ACT Government in coming up with a solution that protects the critical national treasures of the Australian Institute of Sport and Canberra’s national open space system.
It is now critical that the new evidence be tested. If it proves critical for athletes’ training, it must be back to the drawing board. But just as the AIS is a critical national treasure, so is the open space system. Siting a freeway further up the western side of the O’Connor ridge is unacceptable. If the latest research by the AIS is correct, it means neither route for the Gungahlin Drive is a goer. Both Governments must then look to an entirely new route – maybe to east of Mount Painter-Mount Ainslie hills