We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Peoples and the Traditional Custodians of Ngunnawal Country, the land on which we meet today. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging.
A big thank you to our supporting partners for your support of our Tourism Advisory Forums:
Neil Gaughan AFP Assistant Commissioner and ACT Chief Police Officer
- Good morning and thank you for the opportunity to speak to you, the last time I addressed the forum was early on in Covid
- ACT Police approach policing in a way that is low on enforcement, high on education
- There are some trends in crime rates we are seeing at the moment:
- A decrease in property crime across all states and territories, and definitely in Canberra - might be due to increase in home and business security
- What people steal has changed, less cash is carried, CDs are no longer around, you can buy a TV for a few hundred dollars so why steal one - less things are also available on the black market
- Personal identity crimes are on the increase, with substantial hacks recently - there are likely people who don't yet know their digital property has been hacked
- In the territory there is interestingly a big increase (70%) in stolen vehicles
- Some residents have treated Canberra in the past as a big country town, leaving their keys in the car - most cars we find dumped have the keys in them
- Cars are often stolen in winter while running and waiting to defrost
- Assaults in nightclubs are on the decrease - due to technology and how many cameras are in place
- Sexual assaults are pretty much the same as they have been
- Unfortunately, homicides have increased, a symptom of population increase
- When we look at the population we are policing we include Queanbeyan and Goulburn and others that come here for night life and to shop - this is about half a million people
- We have changed to a new way of policing with a systemic crime focus - collaborating with others to tackle the issues
- We have created strategies to deal with some of these issues that takes an intelligence led approach
- If a crime happens at a business you're responsible for, then report it
- An example is car break-ins at hotels - there is a big difference between what the hotels are seeing and what is being reported to ACT Policing
- We need to encourage more reports so we have more intelligence about what is happening - so online reporting is being introduced - I know crime in Canberra is under reported - the police cannot perform their best service without substantial information from reports
- A good example of our strategy is Operation Toric, primarily focused on driving behaviours - it became apparent that people hoon driving were the vast majority of people stealing cars and also committing home invasion and theft - our response has led to over 100 arrests
- Our aim is to work with the community to service the community - we change our approach and work as we are needed - I tell my staff we are 'Guardians of the community - not warriors'.
The main message I have is that we work with you to provide a service that the community needs us to perform - so we need to know things.
Question - "If there is an incident, for example in the hotel, does the person who was impacted have to report it?"
- I'm happy if the hotel reports it, but currently we are not hearing about it at all. As long as it gets reported
- There is going to be a portal specific to hotels that will take reports - and hotels can see what is happening across Canberra in real time
- The challenge is there is a small number of people breaking into hotels and they come in waves, and if we don't know they are coming its hard to take action - so the information from the portal will help a lot
- It's not just a policing issue, its a whole of community issue
Question "Is civic safe at night?"
- For the most part it is, I go into Civic at night. There are hot spots and I note as well there are staff shortages. We move resources around to cover the spots we know have issues
- I think Canberra is the safest city in Australia - its not as dangerous as other places, but of course there is room for improvement - if there are things we can do better please let us know.
Michael Rodrigues the NSW 24-Hour Economy Commissioner
- It's sometimes a simple or complicated subject, the night-time economy
- I want to talk about where Sydney is today but starting with the past to understand where its been and where its going now - including lockout laws
- Here you can see some of the impacts over the past few years on Sydney's night-time economy
- There are a few things that have also happened like the Netflix era started up
- It is new for Politicians to get excited about this opportunity (the night-time economy) - but when you start saying 'You're losing 1.7 billion dollars per year' they do listen
- If you think about the city like a truck, you don't want it parked for half the time - so why would you do that with a city? We need to think about the city as an asset
- We used to think about night life as just 'boozing' but this is a limited view - it should be as exciting and diverse as your streaming services at home
- There is a variety of other services that are involved in delivering quality night life - policing, health services etc. My role is like a coordination function in senior levels of government, connecting these things up
- You go to the beach and you see the flags and know that it's safe to swim - there is a new concept called 'purple flags' that we've borrowed from London. What it does is says you a good city to go out in at night - It addresses questions like is there transport? Is it safe? is there a good going out experience? We have got to be rated purple.
- Being a city with it's own 'bedtime' isn't a great thing to be when you're trying to be a global city
- Before we rebuild something we have a chance to think about what we want it to do - and design it to be diverse, inclusive etc
- Some of the things we're thinking about - we're giving government an opportunity to think about how we can be active and not reactive
- When people put money into their local areas they are lifting the product
- When people think to go out into the city they think 'Is it worth it - what is in it for me?'
- Some of the districts are rebranding and shaping up to show off what their offerings are - eg York, Clarence, Kent laneways in Sydney
- Gaming is a new opportunity and the night economy can benefit from stadium gaming, and it can be advertised in the couch setting and get people to go out to the city
- Gen Y and Z are looking for personalised experiences that are in their hands, not in your hands
"It takes two clicks to stay in - Netflix and Uber Eats - how many clicks does it take to go out?" - Michael Rodrigues
Question - "Do you think Canberra should be establishing a night time industry association?"
- People tend to be resistant to change but change comes - what the night time association did was highlight the same and different challenges of various venues - looking for opportunities
- There is pain in establishing industry bodies - but you need to make a change in attitude happen and look for vested interest
- Don't do it unless you have to - but it's about changing the conversation
Question - "We had a recent situation on the Sunday of a long weekend where most restaurants were closed. What is your approach to that situation?"
- It's a bit of a chicken and egg
- It's hard for restaurants to be open when they don't think their customers are going to be there
- For Vivid, for example, we helped them out by reducing their staff costs - now next year people are more likely to show up so they will be better off
Major Projects Canberra and Transport Canberra and City Services
Geoff Davidson, Ashley Cahif, Tim Brampton
Major projects - the roadworks in Canberra right now are expected to take 2 years.
- There’s a lot of city construction coming to the city centre. It’s not just raising London Circuit or light rail
- There is a lot going on in the area - and we need to ensure it isn't chaos and happens on time
- Raising London Circuit is a precursor for the 2A (light rail extension to Commonwealth Park) - it's all about designing the spaces to enable people to access city venues via walking or transport
- One of the things we have been designing is how the raising of London Circuit and light rail 2A integrate
- This plan allows us to make the concrete jungle of London Circuit change to prioritise light rail travel over car traffic
- There is a document called the Environmental Assessment in the works to list a lot of detail on the project
- London Circuit will be raised 6 metres, bringing in a great deal of fill to form a four-way intersection with Commonwealth Avenue
- The first project we have done is almost complete - that is, moving utilities
- Parking changes will occur and we will lose two carparks
- We're looking at 665 carparks out of the 14,780 that will be temporarily impacted
- Vernon Circle is closed at the moment where we are creating traffic light areas
- Foot paths are being planned and created
- There are four stages that include demolishing bridges
- Two lanes of traffic each way will be maintained at all times during the works
- Modelling has been done and suggests a five minute delay on daily travel - we are looking at education to people who are travelling
- The old Canberra idea of getting in your car at 8 o'clock and get to where you need to go by 8:30 will change - behaviours have to change as the city grows
- There is a number of detour options - remember we want to work with you and help you navigate what will be a disruptive time
- There is a Business Partnership Plan if your business is on the route - we want to work with you
- There is a Disruption Taskforce to manage all the impacts of these projects
- There is planning and analysis of the impacted arterial roads
- We are looking at the impacted roads where the traffic will be redistributed
- Alternate transport options will be available such as park and ride, school bus travel. A campaign will be launched early next year
- More technology is being used to gather data and monitor traffic - Bluetooth and more CCTV cameras
- Focus has been put on the AM peak and the PM peak
- Right now there are part time signals being installed at Coranderrk and Parkes Way roundabout - this project should be completed by the end of November
- There are several communications materials circulating
- Built for CBR website is the single source of truth about the works and impacts
Question - "Are you sure there is only going to be a 5 minute delay?"
- That is what the modelling says - however variables will occur depending on where people find the alternate routes
- We don't want to scare people away - there are alternative ways of getting to the city - there is some 'rethinking the routine' needed as the slogan suggests
- We encourage people to come to us if they have a problem
Next forum
- ACT Chief Minister and Tourism Minister Andrew Barr on future plans focused on the growth of the tourism and hospitality sectors
- His Excellency Mr Anil Kumar Nayar the Singaporean High Commissioner on Singapore as one of the ACT’s most important international partners
- Director Visit Canberra Jonathan Kobus on the finalisation of the 2030 ACT Tourism Strategy
The next forum is on Monday 5 December, to RSVP click here
We would like to also mention the upcoming Tourism Awards Gala Dinner on Friday 25 November 2022 tickets are currently on sale
Credits:
Created with images by Jerry - "Lake Burley Griffin at night" • Jerry - "Lake Burley Griffin at night"