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I went to a lunchtime seminar at CSIRO Discovery
today.
It was MOST disappointing.
The theme was to be "Communities at the bush/urban
interface" and the focus was to be on the problems likely to develop around
Mulligans and Garooyaroo as the new suburbs go in.
Most speakers just trotted out a tired list of
their organisation's achievements and were bereft of any useful ideas for the
future.
Apart from the organisers and speakers I counted
just 4 members of the public attending.
I felt very sorry for Jenny and Chris, It must be
disheartenig to have to prepare a talk for such a tiny audience.
We do need to do more to protect the natural values
of Mulligans Flat and to involve the Gungahlin people in the protection of their
reserve but we did not advance that cause today.
We need to get out of the CSIRO "ivory tower". Hold
the next meeting in the local primary school (good idea Chris!).
We need to put forward proposals that the locals
can own. I'm sorry but no-one moving into a bare dusty block in Forde is going
to give a damn about Chilean Lovegrass. Let's talk about low impact recreational
activities and attracting birds to the garden. Let's talk about community tree
planting in Garooyaroo to those poor people who will never be able to grow one
in their tiny backyard.
Let's get positive. Too much of what I heard today
sounded like "us" wanting to keep "them" in their place.
Tom Green
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