It might not be the ''little Champs-Elysees'' Bob Brown had envisaged, but the former Greens leader was grinning broadly when he opened the new Parliament House Walk on Thursday.
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The footpath, which runs from the city centre to Parliament House, features 13 interpretive signs along the way.
Mr Brown originally wanted to spend a lot more on the project, but said he was pleased with the result anyway. ''We started with a $10 million dream footway; we've got a $200,000 service footway. But I'm really happy, I think this is great,'' he said.
As he strolled along the new walk, he said he enjoyed the idea of politicians walking through a bit of nature to get to work. ''I think that's not a bad thing, walking through the greens to get to Parliament,'' he said, laughing.
The guided walk was first suggested by the former senator in 2010 and the bill was split evenly between the territory and federal governments. At more than three kilometres, it takes about an hour to walk. Mr Brown said he remembered discovering how difficult it was to reach Parliament during his first year as a senator.
''You can't go up the ramp, you get run over. And you can't go through the bushes because the SWAT squad might arrive,'' he said.
Greens MLA Shane Rattenbury said he hoped the new guided walk would help tourists better experience the nation's capital.
Mr Brown believed the next step should be a multimillion-dollar overpass up to City Hill from Civic, which would then link with the Parliament House Walk.
