Page 876 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 6 April 2022
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I had originally planned to try commuting back to Western Creek the next day, but later that evening it was probably our last beautiful summer evening, so I was all inspired and thought, “I will give it a go tonight.” I was absolutely blown away. I still cannot believe that I rode a bike from the city to Western Creek. That is quite phenomenal for me—15 kilometres. And I loved it. It is so easy. The bikes are amazing.
The next morning, I got up and it was my attempt at commuting back. I have to say it did take me longer to get out of the door, to organise myself—how was I going to manage this? It was quite different riding in the morning, when there is lots of traffic and hustle and bustle and people were on the paths, whereas I pretty much had it to myself the evening before. I guess, again, I felt a bit self-conscious and a bit of a learner in the whole process but got through that. In this week I have tried multiple routes and I cannot explain how much this has opened up the world of Canberra and my electorate that I knew existed but that was not accessible to me.
Anyone can have a try of these e-bikes, and I really encourage the community to just log on. I am very happy to work with people who want to understand more about how to do it. I am quite inspired to buy an e-bike now. While commuting will not work for me every day—and I definitely do recognise the challenges with trip chaining and with little kids, and with work as well, so it would not be an everyday commute—it is definitely something that believe I could manage a day or two a week.
I really am keen to support the community in accessing at least a trial, because it is amazing that you can actually try it. I would never buy one of these without trying it, and a week is a fantastic amount of time to give it a go. So please do not hesitate to reach out to me if you want to know my experiences or if you need some support in putting your name down for the SEE-Change e-bike library. Thank you.
Answer to question on notice—question 647
MS DAVIDSON (Murrumbidgee—Assistant Minister for Families and Community Services, Minister for Disability, Minister for Justice Health, Minister for Mental Health and Minister for Veterans and Seniors) (5.13): This will be very quick. I would just like to correct the record from earlier today. On 24 March Mrs Kikkert asked me where the answers to questions 647 and 648 were and I had committed to following that up for her. I came back downstairs later that day and advised that questions 657 and 658 had been responded to. Unfortunately, I had made the mistake of writing down the wrong question numbers. I have since gone upstairs and checked for question 647, which included some quite detailed data, and that response should be with her tomorrow. Thank you.
Municipal services—cyclepaths
MR CAIN (Ginninderra) (5.14): It is interesting that Dr Paterson has talked about and encouraged e-biking. Obviously, using Canberra’s bike paths would be part of that. I am not quite sure how she would feel, though, if she went to my electorate of Ginninderra and tried to use the bike paths in many parts of that electorate.
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