Liberal MLA for Brindabella, Nicole Lawder, on Thursday moved a motion in the Assembly, calling on the Labor-Greens government to improve amenities surrounding Lake Tuggeranong. Not water quality, but amenities. Such as more bins, tables, barbecues and toilets; more recreational facilities for young people, improved footpaths for pedestrians and cyclists, better maintenance of the green space, increased landscaping.

The motion called for consultation with the Tuggeranong community to inform future improvements and for upgrades to the lake to be considered in future budgets.

Ms Lawder reckoned the government was happy to support improvements to Yerrabi Pond District Park in the north, so why not do the same for Lake Tuggeranong in the south?

"Lake Tuggeranong is a recreational area that is used and enjoyed by many locals, and it is well overdue for a refresh with better public amenities," she said.

"Labor and the Greens have supported a push for improvements to Yerrabi Pond, so I've taken heart from that motion and hope for similar cross-party support for improvements at Lake Tuggeranong."

An enthusiastic Greens MLA for Brindabella Johnathan Davis said he stood "shoulder to shoulder" with Ms Lawder and was "not ashamed" to wholeheartedly agree with her motion. Not ashamed. Is is shameful to support a Liberal motion otherwise?

"When I was first elected, I committed myself to supporting good policy for Tuggeranong, no matter which side of the chamber it came from," he said.

Mr Davis said it was too easy to take a purely partisan stance in the Assembly but on some "city-council"-type issues, "your political stripe doesn't matter". "What matters is what part of town are you from, how much do you love it and how prepared are you to fight for it," he said.

City Services Minister Chris Steel, Labor Member for Murrumbidgee, was less excited by Ms Lawder's motion, but he, tellingly, didn't seek to amend it.

The Minister instead talked about past improvements to Anketell Street and Labor's promise from last year's election to improve the Lake Tuggeranong foreshore at a cost of $4 million. Eventually. With four budgets to play with. He was happy to say a new toilet had been installed close to the learn-to-ride park.

Mr Steel was certain politics was all behind Ms Lawder's motion, saying Brindabella voters had delivered a seven per cent swing to Labor at last year's election and the Liberals "are now reeling and trying to catch up".

But both Ms Lawder and Mr Davis took him to task, saying the message they were both getting from the community is that residents wanted more amenity for their lake and the government didn't seem to be listening to that.

"While we don't have the resources of government, we do have pop-up stalls, we do do door-knocking, we do meet people at coffee shops and chat to them all the time. And we do receive dozens, if not hundreds, of emails and calls and letters and comments on our social media pages from residents. And this is where we draw these type of issues from. And Mr Davis clearly has a similar experience to us," she said.

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Lake Burley Griffin might get more attention, but Lake Tuggeranong is loved by deep-southside residents. Grab a coffee from Mimi's Pit Stop on the eastern shore any weekend and you will see dogwalkers, cyclists, kayakers, parents with their kids, even horse riders happily congregating and using the lake. It swells the heart.

In the end, Ms Lawder's motion was agreed to, without opposition from Labor.

If nothing else, the debate proved the world does not implode when the Greens and Liberals agree on an issue.

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