Playground for Parliament

WELLINGTON: A playground is to be built on the front lawn of Parliament in an effort to get more families to visit.

Speaker of the House Trevor Mallard is behind the idea as part of his push to make Parliament more friendly, open and accessible for the public.

The play space will be constructed in spring on the smaller of the front lawns, and Mr Mallard said it would also help to meet the rapidly growing need for play spaces in Wellington, as inner city apartment living became more common for young families.

‘‘. . . what I’m hoping is that people will flow from the playground into the building into the tours, and that Parliament will be demystified a bit.’’

He said the playground plan was based on having minimal disrup tion on the view of Parliament.

‘‘So we don’t want big sort of red, yellow and blue slides and playground equipment — it involves a slide, natural materials, it’s got a tunnel, a maze, and stepping stones — and it’s got some seats for people who are supervising the kids to sit down and to watch them.

‘‘It’s not a big playground, and you won’t see much of it from a distance.’’

Mr Mallard has made a number of changes at Parliament to try to make it more familyfriendly for MPs, staff and visitors — including last year allowing staff to bring their pets into work.

He is also proposing Parliament’s Copperfield’s Cafe is opened to the public on nonsitting days, partly to help demystify Parliament, but also to help the business itself, he said. — RNZ