Page 3371 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 19 October 2022
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Members will not be surprised that this has not changed in the few months since we discussed this work.
A number of key strategies have guided the ACT government’s nation-leading approach to tackling the global challenge of climate change. Mr Davis’s motion refers to the government’s ACT Climate Change Strategy 2019-2025, which is central for setting the government’s vision and actions to tackle climate change. The strategy aims to build resilience to climate change impacts and lay the foundations for the government’s commitment to net zero emissions by 2045, and net zero in the health sector by 2040. As part of this commitment, the government has already made significant progress.
I am pleased that Mr Davis’s motion highlighted the government’s membership of the Global Green and Healthy Hospitals network. This network, stretching around the world, has more than 1,450 members in 70 countries, representing hospitals, healthcare facilities, health systems and health organisations, working to achieve significant improvements in sustainability while promoting environmental health in their communities.
The government has completed a 20-year master plan for the Canberra Hospital. The master plan will guide how the campus will become fully electric; promote better sustainability outcomes, such as walking and cycling; and encourage canopy cover to ensure that buildings are better able to cope with a changing climate. While it may be a 20-year plan, in an Australian first our new emergency and critical services building is being designed and constructed to achieve a five star green-star rating. It will be an all-electric building, significantly reducing the carbon footprint of Canberra Hospital.
Once operational, the new building will mitigate the release of an estimated 1,886 tonnes of carbon dioxide every year—the equivalent of taking 760 cars off Canberra’s roads annually. This also has an immediate impact on improving the local air quality around the hospital. The design approach demonstrates the government’s focus on the territory’s major capital works to strive to achieve appropriate sustainability and building performance outcomes in supporting the ACT’s target of net zero emissions by 2045.
In paving the way for the critical services building, the demolition of buildings 24 and 25 produced demolition materials, of which approximately 76 per cent will be available for reuse for future projects within the ACT. In managing the reduction of emissions during the construction phase of the critical services building, the project will utilise locally sourced concrete with a 40 per cent reduction in carbon content when compared with standard concrete mixes.
We are now consulting with the community about planning for the new northside hospital, officials having attended both Gungahlin and Belconnen community councils this week. While the need to replace our major hospital infrastructure over a relatively short period of time might not make the Treasurer happy, at least I can assure him, in his role as Minister for Climate Action, that this new infrastructure will have a positive long-term impact on carbon emissions.
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