The battle for the Giralang Shops has been a long one... The years and years of inaction were frustrating and continued to drag on, impacting the Giralang community in so many ways.

By 2018, a Development Application was approved and it looked promising that finally the shops would be delivered, however nothing happened.

I sponsored a petition in 2021, brought by residents in Giralang seeking an update from developer on what was being done to deliver the shops. 584 signed the physical petition and 321 of you signed online.

From the petition, the Standing Committee on Planning, Transport and City Services launched an inquiry, and sought to get a response to the issues raised by the community in the petition.

I put a number of questions to the developer that were directly from residents in Giralang, the final one being “when do you say its time to give someone else a go?”.

Following the hearings and because of the Giralang Community's input and activism the developer could be in no doubt that Giralang was sick of waiting and wanted action.

In 2022, the previous developers did give someone else a go when they sold the land to the new developers. The Committee handed up their final report where they found “the barriers to development outlined by the previous developer, had not proven significant for the new developers.”

Now in 2024 the shops are almost complete, and in the very near future Giralangers will be able to say once again, "I’m just popping down to the [Giralang] shops."

It’s been quite the journey but I for one am looking forward to seeing you all at the shops and thank you for your assistance over the past 4 years!