Weston Creek residents were weary after the 15 kilometre march but still standing strong against the ACT government's proposed public housing development in Chapman.
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The Darwinia Park Action Group handed over a petition with nearly 900 signatures to Liberal MLA Jeremy Hanson on Saturday, protesting against the proposed development on the corner of Darwinia Terrace and Kathner Street.
The petition's gravitas was enough to force a parliamentary committee to reconsider the location and resident Dr Chris Braddick said he was confident his community's green spaces would be spared.
"It's been a mammoth effort but I feel if the government doesn't listen to us, then they're disenfranchising a significant proportion of the Weston Creek community," he said.
Dr Braddick said his group wasn't against public housing or the government's public housing renewal program.
"If the ACT is a genuine democracy, then the assembly will listen to our voice, the committee will investigate this issue properly and thoroughly," he said.
"Sooner or later they will realise that we're not nimbies."
Last month, the government unveiled 141 new public housing townhouses and apartments in five suburbs in Canberra's south.
The sites are in Monash, Holder, Chapman, Mawson and Wright. Most of the developments are groups of single-storey, two-bedroom townhouses, except at Stapylton Street, Holder, where the plan includes apartments.
The new homes will be used to house tenants moved from the public housing flats on Northbourne Avenue, which are being demolished to make way for tram-related redevelopment, and the inner south, where the troubled Red Hill flats are about to be demolished.
Mr Hanson said the uproar could continue as the government searches for more spots to allocate developments.
"It's quite clear that the government has solved part of its problem with this proposal but there are still in the order of 800 to 900 other residences that they're going to need to find sites for," he said.
"It's Chapman today, but it's your suburb tomorrow."
Correction: An earlier version of this article referred to Jeremy Hanson as Liberal leader. He is the former leader.
