The proposal to allow seaplanes to land on Lake Burley Griffin has been raised with me by numerous people across the ACT.
Members of our community have serious concerns about the impact seaplanes will have on other users of the lake, on everyone from rowers to the Sea Scouts and other sailors.
It would seem there could be an imbalance between the potential utility and benefits of a seaplane service, and the disruption and negative impact such a service would have.
What I heard yesterday was that there was no consultation on whether the seaplanes were something our community wanted, only consultation on the factors that should be considered if the seaplane operations were approved.
This has raised concerns for me on the process of this consultation and whether it was genuinely consultative with the communities that will be impacted by this decision, including Canberrans that use the lake for sport and recreation.
Yesterday, the NCA acknowledged that even if you looked beyond just the submissions to social media commentary, community sentiment on the seaplanes appeared divided.
Looking at the discussion paper, it is unclear to me what the benefits of this proposal will be for the Canberra economy.
As yet, I haven’t seen any advice or evidence that the three planned flights a day from Rose Bay, carrying a maximum of 14 people per flight, will be a significant contributor to spending in our city.
The seaplanes aren’t acknowledged in the ACT Tourism Strategy 2023-2030, or identified as an enabler of growing the size of our visitor economy.