Town Centre

MS CARRICK(Murrumbidgee) (4.11), by leave: I move the following amended motion:

That this Assembly:

(1) notes that:

(a) the Woden Town Centre (WTC) is the major hub in Canberra’s south and is undergoing significant densification and loss of social infrastructure;

(b) the 2004 WTC Master Plan was not implemented and no coordinated planning for social infrastructure has occurred since. The 2015 Master Plan primarily sets building heights;

(c) residential towers have replaced key social infrastructure, including the indoor sports stadium, bowling greens, bowling alley, tennis courts, YMCA and gymnasium. The 50m pool, ice rink and “pitch n putt” are also planned for residential towers;

(d) since 2017, 24 residential towers and over 5,000 apartments, mostly one bedroom, have been built. Another 11 towers are in progress;

(e) in December 2026, SQM Research reported that the 2606 postcode (Phillip, Lyons and Chifley) had a vacancy rate of 3 percent, high for

Canberra and nationally;

(f) in the 2024 election, the Government stated that feasibility is underway on additional indoor sporting facilities in the WTC; and

(g) on 29 January 2026, the Government announced a new 50m public pool in Woden;

(2) further notes that:

(a) the Government’s Southern Gateway Planning and Design Framework provides an opportunity to reconsider planning for residential, commercial and community development in the WTC;

(b) in late 2025, Scentre Group released a concept master plan proposing 17 towers up to 55 storeys, well above current Territory Plan limits, and some community facilities, proposed to be funded through the Lease Variation Charge; and

(c) the proposal includes opportunities to deliver diverse apartments and community facilities sought by residents. A land-use plan and negotiating strategy would progress consideration of the options; and

(3) calls on the Government to:

(a) deliver its commitments, starting with an integrated land-use plan for the WTC, including:

(i) governance arrangements—table by 24 February 2026, including terms of reference that drive collaboration with the building owners and community, identify underlying assumptions, options and criteria to be used to ensure activation and social infrastructure in the right place;

(ii) housing analysis—current apartment size and numbers, ownership/rental mix, vacancy rates and unmet housing needs;

(iii) entertainment precinct and place plan—a place plan to create a destination by activating public spaces and the night-time economy in the core of the WTC, including the Woden Town Square and the West Plaza;

(iv) social infrastructure—gap analysis, options and criteria to determine the preferred sites, with the 50m pool set in a green environment;

(v) tree canopy—a plan to increase the canopy from 20 to 30 percent; and

(vi) integration—ensure Scentre Group’s master plan aligns with the Southern Gateway Planning and Design Framework;

(b) co-design theland-use plan and negotiating strategy with the community prior to consultation;

(c) table the above analyses, land-use plan and negotiating strategy by June 2026, before public consultation on the Southern Gateway Framework and before any major Territory Plan amendment for the Scentre Group proposal; and

(d) declare the WTC an urban renewal precinct by 24 February 2026.

Today I rise once again to speak about the future of the Woden town centre. I know

some may roll their eyes and think, “Not again!” but I persist because Woden has the potential to become a vibrant and welcoming destination for southsiders, and I am increasingly concerned that this potential is slipping away. Good planning must be people focused. Too often I do not see that happening. I genuinely welcome the government’s recent commitment to a new 50-metre pool for Woden. It was an exciting announcement, but I have felt that excitement before. In 2018, the government announced a new community centre to bring together the essential services delivered by Woden Community Service. We are still waiting. We are also still waiting for the new ice rink, first announced a decade ago—not that Iwant to lose it from Woden. Why are projects delayed? Why is the Geocon pool so unpopular?

We need transparency around the underlying assumptions, options considered and the criteria used to determine where facilities go. It is called a multicriteria analysis and it is a decision-making tool that uses a non-monetary evaluation to transparently compare alignment of the options with the criteria. It helps you make clearer, more defensible and more balanced decisions when multiple factors matter. It brings structure, transparency and stakeholder involvement into complex choices. This is exactly why clear, transparent criteria for selecting sites, published openly by the government, are so important. If the government articulated and published the criteria it uses to choose locationsforpublicfacilities,wewouldhavetransparencyandabasisforaccountability, and the potential for better outcomes.

The problem is not only in the way the government chooses sites and the size of facilities. I also have concerns about the outcomes based planning framework. The first two towers of the Geocon development on the Phillip pool site tell the story. The ACT government’s own Climate Change and Energy Division stated clearly that Geocon’s central plaza, which will be surrounded by five towers, will suffer from cold and deeply overshadowed conditions in winter, and excessive heat will be trapped by surrounding tall buildings in summer. In other words, the plaza will be overshadowed and cold in winter, hot in summer and unable to support trees because of basement parking and building masses. This is not people focused planning; it is a developer’s design driving the outcome, with no-one clearly protecting the public interest.

So, yes, I am worried. I am worried that planning has been ceded to private interests without a coherent vision for Woden. I am worried that community outcomes are becoming an afterthought. I will continue to insist that land use planning must serve the people. The real questions are: can we trust the government to centre community needs in a town plan, identify the best sites for social infrastructure and strengthen Woden’s character, liveability and social heart? While the skyline has risen, much of the social infrastructure that once bound our community together has been lost.

The last land use plan was 22 years ago, the 2004 Woden Town Centre Master Plan, and included a map of numbered facilities and upgrades, including enclosing and upgrading thePhillip pool. Unfortunately,that planwas neverimplemented.Sincethen, no coordinated planning effort has addressed the everyday needs of families, young people and older residents. The 2015 Master Plan focused largely on building heights. It listed the community facilities that existedat thetime,manyofwhichhave sincebeen demolished, and no new land use planning has acknowledged their disappearance or the community’s growing needs.

Instead, we have seen 24 towers and over 5,000 apartments—mostly one-bedroom apartments—built since 2017, and another 11 towers are underway, and we have seen the steady loss of longstanding facilities. The indoor sports stadium, bowling greens, a bowling alley, tennis courts, the YMCA and the gymnasium have been demolished to make way for residential towers. The 50-metre pool, the ice rink and pitch and putt are now earmarked for more housing.

While housing is important, SQM Research reports that the 2606 postcode now has a vacancy rate of three per cent, which is amongst the highest in Canberra. Woden is oversupplied with small apartments and undersupplied in the social infrastructure that makes neighbourhoods thrive. The government needs to look at why we have so many empty apartments and the housing stock local people want. Ihave heard from many that they do not want 55-storey apartments.

There has been some progress. The government committed in the 2024 election to examining new indoor sports facilities, and last week announced a new 50-metre pool. These are welcome steps, but we need a plan to ensure that they are located where they will bring activity and fun to the area—places where people, particularly young people, want to come together to be active and catch up with their mates. This local social planning is important to our physical and mental health, and now we have an opportunity. The government’s Southern Gateway Planning and Design Framework allows us to consider how residential, commercial and community development can work cohesively. The Scentre Group’s concept plan, with 17 towers up to 55 storeys and community facilities potentially funded partly through the lease variation charge, provides opportunities for more diverse housing stock and community facilities, but, to evaluate this properly, we need a strong land use plan and a well-developed negotiating position with Scentre Group.

So today I call on the government to act decisively. Deliver an integrated land use plan for Woden town centre that includes clear governance involving business owners and the community; social infrastructure gap analysis that identifies preferred sites for missing facilities; transparent assumptions, published options and, critically, published criteria for site selection; a detailed housing analysis to ensure future developments meet the needs of locals for housing that is hopefully affordable for our young people; an entertainment precinct and place plan to reinvigorate the town square and West Plaza; a genuine plan to green the environment; a strategy to increase the tree canopy to 30 per cent; and alignment of the Scentre Group proposal with the Southern Gateway Planning and Design Framework.

We want to see the community co-design the plan and the negotiating strategy before consultation so that residents can shape the vision from the outset. The community has formed a town centre action group that will continue to advocate for land use planning and better outcomes. I look forward to working with them over the coming months. Woden has a proud history, a strong identity and a community deeply invested in its future. We have a chance now to rebalance growth and liveability, restore lost social infrastructure and ensure the town centre focuses on the needs of all its users, particularly homes and activities for our young people, to support them having a sense of belonging to their community.

MR STEEL (Murrumbidgee—Treasurer, Minister for Planning and Sustainable

Development, Minister for Heritage and Minister for Transport) (4.20): I thank Ms Carrick for the motion that she has brought forward to the Assembly today. The ACT government has a strong record of investment and delivery in Woden, especially within the Woden Town Centre and we continue to plan and invest in the future of the Woden Valley and thetown centre. Inthelast sittingweekof2025, Itabled theprogress report for the Woden Town Centre working group, which was established in response to the Assembly resolution of 20 March 2025 regarding a similar motion by Ms Carrick on the Woden Town Centre.

I refer members to our record of investment mentioned in that, around community public transport, health and sporting infrastructure within the town centre, which is outlined in the report. Of course, further planning is required, and Ihave spoken at great lengths about our vision for Woden and our approach to the work underway in planning for the future of the town centre, both in this Assembly and through the inquiry that is underway into the role and future of the Woden Town Centre, which came from a petition moved by Dr Paterson.

The ACT government is undertaking substantial work on the development of a new Southern Gateway Planning and Design Framework. Much like the City and Gateway Urban Design Framework, it will support urban regeneration across the southern corridor, and it provides an opportunity to revitalise this part of Canberra. Of course, Woden Town Centre is an important part of that southern gateway of work. It will demonstrate framework design excellence, and celebrate Canberra’s unique landscape character whilst placing more value on public spaces that prioritise pedestrians, cycling and public transport, as well as providing social infrastructure required for sustainable communities. And that is really important as we start to see more people living in the Woden Town Centre.

There will be opportunities for more housing, commercial activity, active travel and public transport connections, as well as improvements to landscape, streets and public spaces, which of course is part of the motion and amendment that Ms Carrick has circulated today. Iwelcometheopportunitytohavea discussionabout these issues.The substance of today’s motion is about the development of this new Southern Gateway Planning and Design Framework, and I would like to thank Ms Carrick for working with us on the amendments that she will be moving to her motion about some of the things that we will need to consider as we develop that draft framework so that we can go out and consult with the broader community.

This amendment recognises that there is an established process that has been put in place for developing, consulting on and finalising an integrated land use plan for the Woden Town Centre through the Southern Gateway Planning and Design Framework. It also recognises the established interagency advisory group and Woden Town Centre working group who are already providing input into the investigations and planning for the development of the new draft framework on matters within the scope of today’s motion.

I would like to thank Ms Carrick for acknowledging that any declaration of the Woden Town Centre as an urban renewal precinct would have resource implications and for agreeing for this to be appropriately considered through the upcoming budget process. It is something that we do support and want toconsider, but we need to understand what

thefinancialimplications are. Ofcourse,wearereallyinterestedtoseewhat community feedback we receive through the development and consultation of the draft framework.

Progressing urban regeneration is not just our ambition for Canberra; it is work that I am committed to do every single day. I am ambitious for Woden and I am dedicated to pursuing our vision for the Woden Valley and for all of Canberra. We will be doing that through the development of this transport-oriented development or integrated land use and transport plan forthe Woden TownCentreand thebroadercorridor,stretchingfrom Commonwealth Park, where light rail will be terminating with 2A, right down to as far as Beasley Street in Torrens and Farrer, including the Woden Town Centre in between.

The framework will represent an integrated strategic approach to land use planning and transport infrastructure in the corridor. It will support the implementation of the district strategies, which have been subject to consultation with the community in their development, and it willidentify opportunities forcommunityandrecreational facilities that we will need as the population of Woden grows over time. It will maximise the benefits of the investment that the government has been making in infrastructure in Woden, including light rail.

The outcomes of community engagement with the district strategies undertaken between 2019 and 2023 on the unique character of the Woden district has also guided the project to date, but we will need to consult again through the development of the framework. We expect there will be multiple opportunities for that. When the district strategies were developed, they identified change areas and key sites, and they will also be part of the discussions that we need to have. They, of course, are broader than the town centre footprint, but there will be opportunities to guide the sorts of development that we want to see in in this important corridor in our city.

It is important to acknowledge that private landholders—like Scentre Group, which owns the Westfield at Woden—will play a key role in delivering outcomes for the community, so we will need to engage with them. I appreciate that Ms Carrick’s amendment around how we engage with them is going to be important to think about. The government has already been progressing work around developing a framework to consider some of the proposals that may be coming forward from them in the future, including our proposals around community and recreational facilities that they may wish to support within the town centre as part of a broader set of developments, including new housing development.

While it is not up to the government to dictate when private landholders like Scentre Group choose to bring forward planning applications or an amendment to the Territory Plan, any application for a major plan amendment, for example, is subject to public consultation and consideration by the independent Territory Planning Authority, which has a role in the statutory planning process. But of course, there will be opportunities for the Assembly and the planning committee to have their say through that process as well. So, I support the motion and the amendment to the motion moved by Ms Carrick.

MR COCKS (Murrumbidgee) (4.27): I want to rise briefly to echo many of the comments that Ms Carrick made and to thank her again for bringing a motion about Woden Town Centre, because we have been speaking about it for a long time. Ms Carrick and I have been engaging about the future and the importance of the Woden

Town Centre for a very long time. Since before either of us were running to represent ourelectorate, we havebeen talking about the utterneglect and decay that wehavebeen witnessing in our community.

Labor, over its tenure, has presided over a decades-long failure. We have seen decay in Woden, the loss of community infrastructure and declining government services. We have seen closed schools. We witnessed for a time severe problems in terms of vacant buildings. Those problems are not necessarily gone. Many people look at what has been happening in the town centre, and it has become emblematic of what they see as an ad hoc approach to where we are going with our community.

I was recently door knocking in the Lyons area, and I remember knocking on the door of one gentleman and his husband. They were talking to me about how they overlook the town centre and how they had watched the high-rises grow. But they have given up going into the town centre because they are just slightly too far away to walk. It is pretty steep and they are not so young anymore, and getting back is a bit difficult. But they cannot find somewhere to park. Not only that; the economy in the town centre is struggling. The businesses in the Woden Town Centre are struggling to get by. “What is more,” they said to me, “we do not go down there for socialisation. There is no pool down there.”

That pool that we have been talking about in Phillip, over the past five years has been closed more than it has been open. Over the time that this minister claims to have been paying attention to Woden—the time since his interesting Woden experiment—Woden hascontinuedtostruggle.AndthatiswhyweabsolutelysupportMs Carrick’sapproach here; something has got to be done.

Isaid in my first speechthat Wodenought tobethebeatingeconomicheart ofthesouth. And it should be. And not only that; it should be the beating social heart of the south. Woden is ideally positioned to serve people right across Canberra’s south. Whether you are in Yarralumla or in Banks, Woden ought to be a place where people can come and find the community infrastructure they need.

Now, it is interesting that when the minister was speaking about infrastructure, the one thing that he named—the one piece of infrastructure that he said the government has invested in—was light rail. But light rail has not come to Woden. As far as I am aware, there is no contract to deliver light rail in Woden. As far as I am aware, there is not a dollar in the budget for a light rail contract in Woden. It begs the question: if that is the one thing that the minister can point to, what about everything else that is going backwards? What about the roads that people come to all of us and talk about—the decay in the roads that they are forced to drive on? What about the decaying footpaths that people are attempting to walk on to get to the places they need to get to? What about those road signs that we drive past every day—the road signs we can see the letters falling off?

Labor has not done well for Woden. It likes to talk about the sort of things that it would like to do. It likes to talk about visions; it likes to talk about plans. This government is fantastic at talking up plans for the future, but then never getting there. How many decadesdoesittaketodeliveronaplan?Rollingfive-yearplansthatnevergetdelivered are not good enough. And it is about time they did a little better.

MR RATTENBURY (Kurrajong) (4.32): I thank Ms Carrick for bringing this motion forward and for the cooperative way we have been able to work together, and with the minister’s office, on finalising thewordingofthe motion.Inotethat not 12 months ago, as has been touched on, Ms Carrick brought forward a similar motion which called on the government to establish a working group that would, amongst other things, identify opportunities to improve the Woden town centre and there is no doubt that today’s motion is borne out of a frustration that we have not seen clear outcomes from that process to this point in time.

There is certainly much going on in the Woden town centre. The new CIT is now operational and work is well progressed on the new bus interchange. Land is being released for redevelopment and the government has recently announced its intention to establish apublic50 metrepool in Woden,althoughIthinksignificant questions remain about both the timeline and the scope of that project.

The working group is progressing with its studies and of course Scentre has been consulting the community about extensive changes that it wants to make to the town centre, with the intention of seeking to amend the Territory Plan and the government has been progressing the development of the Southern Gateway Planning Framework. We have the environment and planning committee conducting a review into the Woden town centre, although that inquiry has not yet released its report. In addition to all of that, the Minister for Planning and Sustainable Development has been negotiating with the owners of businesses in the Phillip Services Trades Area about reintroducing housing in parts of the services trades area, which is part of the Woden town centre. So all in all, there is a lot happening.

It is some 60 years since Woden Valley was established as Canberra’s first new town outside the Inner North and South. Initially planned as a discrete unit, its role expanded with the development of Weston Creek, enabling a larger town centre with improved facilities. The town centre now serves as a major hub for retail, employment, services, recreation, community facilities and public transport for Canberra’s south.

The town centre has an inward-looking design focused on a central square, which is surrounded by retail, offices, some community facilities, a theatre and a church centre. While the combined Woden-Weston Creek population peaked at around 63,000 in the late 1970s, Woden’s population has steadily grown from 31,336 in 2001 to now more than 39,000 in 2021, with the combined population again nearing that earlier peak.

Woden does have an older age profile in many districts, picking up Mr Cocks’ anecdote that he just shared with us, although this is expected to shift with population growth and high-density housing. Public open space within the town centre is limited, with constrained east-west movement, reflectingbroaderdemographicandplanningchanges. Population yield has been driven largely by compact city policies, planning decisions and land releases, resulting in a significant increase in residential development in and around the town centre.

At the same time, the government has been progressing initiatives to introduce missing middle housing typologies through the suburbs. These initiatives respond to strong community support for natural spaces, liveability and diverse housing choices,

alongside the need to balance social, environmental and economic outcomes. I note that the environment and planning committee is conducting the inquiry that I touched on earlier, both of Woden but also of the missing middle initiatives. And so again, I come back to my point and all this context is, there is a lot going on.

Certainly recent residential development has transformed the Woden town centre, replacing extensive car parking with buildings, though not without concern about the pace of change and the supporting infrastructure. The Greens fully support the extension of light rail to Woden. It is a significant step that has the potential to really improve access to the Woden town centre and drive a degree of urban consolidation and change.

This all goes to, I think, the heart of Ms Carrick’s motion, which is a concern that there is a need for a holistic plan for the town centre. I have just described all these things that are happening, but I think the heart of Ms Carrick’s motion is what will it mean for Woden? What will it look like at the end? And are there things we need to be putting in place now that will ensure that at the end of all this, we have not just housing, but we havecommunity services amenity,wehavethirdspaces andWoden has becomeaplace that future residents will feel like it is a community, not just the place they live or go to work. What will it actually look like and how will it feel for the people that go to Woden? I think that is at the heart of the motion and the heart of Ms Carrick’s frustrations—that it does not feel like there is a vision for Woden. More like that there is height limits and land releases andloss ofcommunityamenities andtheprivatesector driving the changes they want to make, but not within a context of how do we make town centre function for the people.

That brings us to the motion, which the Greens will be supporting, including Ms Carrick’s amendment, which we are pleased to have collaborated with her on. I think that it does really speak to what is needed for Woden, which is to, as it says right at point (a) there in the section on the calls on the government, ensure the Southern Gateway Planning and Design Framework delivers an integrated land use plan for Woden town centre. That is at the heart of it. How does it all come together and what does it ultimately look like?

I think the other parts then really go to how you put that together; governance arrangements, making sure that the underlying assumptions and premises that this is all being built on are available to the community so that we can have an open discussion about it, that there is good analysis, there is good planning and good opportunities for the community to participate and participate with, let us say, clear insights, as to what those underlying drivers are.

So all of that said, I am pleased that this motion came before the Assembly today. I think we have landed on a good amendment that will provide practical steps to move this discussion forward and move this forward in a way where there is transparency and there is a clear opportunity for community participation and input into these conversations so that we land an outcome where, in, whether it is a decade’s time or two or three decades’ time, we can look back and say that the right steps were put in placeto make Woden agreat placetolive,tovisit as acommunitymemberandtocreate opportunities for the citizens of the area.

MR EMERSON (Kurrajong) (4.40): I rise to speak very briefly in support of Ms Carrick’s motion and to thank her for bringing it to the Assembly today and also to discourage her from worrying about any eye rolls in this place when she raises the issue of the Woden town centre. If you did not know what Ms Carrick was focused on prior to the election, you will have heard throughout the election campaign that she cares about Woden, and she was focusing on this for a decade prior to joining this place. So, we should not be surprised that her efforts are going to focus closely on exactly what she campaigned on. I think that is something Ms Carrick should be proud of. I am impressed by it and I think other members should be as well—that she continues to focus on the issues that motivated her to try to get in this place and represent her community, and that is what she has done here today. It is fantastic to see that commitment and that ongoing advocacy—energizer bunny mode as members have commented—lead to outcomes and commitments being made. I look forward to seeing the outcomes of this motion and any others that she continues to bring to this place, focused on what matters most to her and the people that she is here to represent.

MS CARRICK (Murrumbidgee) (4.41), in reply: I would like to thank everybody for their contributions and thank you, Mr Emerson, for your support. He is secretly a southsider—do not tell anyone! I would like to thank Mr Rattenbury for bringing up the vision and where we will be in 20 years because that is what it is about. Where will our community be in 20 years and how cohesive will it be? It is really important.

I note that you mentioned the Phillip trades precinct and this is another matter for planning. If we are going to bring residential apartment blocks into the Phillip trades precinct, we need to plan how those apartment blocks and existing trades work together so that we do not end up pushing the trades out to Fyshwick or somewhere else. As it happened in Braddon, a lot of the trades were pushed out. We need to have discussions about how will they co-exist because we are happy to have development and to have residents in the Phillip trades precinct, but we do not want to lose all our trades. We have already lost our hardware shop. There is another thing—our hardware shop, our garden centre—they have gone too. We do not want to lose our trades precinct completely. So how they will co-exist is another discussion.

Mr Rattenbury mentioned population. By 2065, Phillip will be the largest suburb of people. It will even surpass Kambah. It will have 19,000 people. Woden will grow to 89,000. Woden/Weston, because remember this is Weston Creek’s town centre, will be 120,000. If you put the five kilometre radius around Woden this town centre will be servicing over 150,000, let alone all of Canberra south. As said, it has the potential to be the social and economic heart of the south.

Iwouldliketoalso acknowledgeMr Cocks’comments.Whenyoutalkaboutstruggling business, it is true. Businesses are struggling. The buildings are empty. Lovett Tower, our iconic building, is empty. A lot of the ground floors around the town square are empty. The doors are locked. You cannot get into the plaza for fear of somebody running out and stealing stuff from the shops.

There is a lot of work to do for our public spaces. People just walk through them. They do not stop; they just walk through, but there are a lot of people living there now. With the 5,000 apartments that have just gone in there are people around, but they do not stop because there is nothing to stop for, so we need to work on that.

The CIT is terrific, and as wonderful as the CIT is, it is surrounded by blank walls. It is really annoying. I really do not know how that happened. The frustration—the CIT and the Youth Foyer and their blank walls on our public spaces highlights my frustration.

I would like to also acknowledge that I do see Mr Parton at the recently established Woden parkrun. I tell you, it is something to see—when you are going to the parkrun, you see people coming out of the towers and all of these people just heading to the parkrun. It is very exciting. I would like to thank Andrew Dempster for establishing it. It has been going since late last year and hundreds of people show up. It brings people and activity to the town centre and it is really terrific.

I would like to thank the minister for his support for Woden. I know that he has got passion for Woden to be a terrific town centre and I know he is working on it. So thank you for supporting the motion Minister and thank you everybody else for supporting it.

Question resolved in the affirmative.

Papers