Page 260 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 7 March 2007
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have gone much further than that. They were inspired by us, but they have now overtaken us because of the inactivity of this government.
There will be some excellent amendments from Mr Mulcahy that are based on reality. This is what we have to have in this matter. I think Mr Hargreaves said that at well. This has to be a debate based on reality. We have to make sure that we are all working towards the same end, to make sure that we create a benefit not just for the world but certainly for the city. We all have to make sure that we do it as quickly and as expeditiously as we can.
We are not seeing that level of leadership from the government. We are not seeing that level of programs from the government. I am sure Mr Hargreaves will take the opportunity to read the full list of things his government has done. I look forward to hearing it. I suspect it will still be quite a short list. That said, the government has now said that their cab sub will be out soon. I notice that Mr Hargreaves, in his amendment, used the Quinlanesque words “the government’s climate change strategy will be released soon”, which means anywhere from the end of this debate to sometime next year. We look forward to that.
There will be a lively debate about it because it is an issue that this community has an interest in, an issue that this community used to be quite proud of—what their government was achieving, not just locally, not just nationally, but also on the world stage, and making a difference—and an issue that they know that this government has been backsliding on.
MR CORBELL (Molonglo—Attorney-General, Minister for Police and Emergency Services and Minister for Planning) (11.32): I thank Dr Foskey for bringing this matter to the attention of the Assembly this morning. The issue of climate change—global warming is perhaps better terminology, because that is essentially what it is all about—is a matter of the most significant importance. Today I focus on the issues of land use planning, transport planning and those matters which Dr Foskey refers to in her motion and which I believe the government is taking significant steps to address. I will outline places where we need to continue to focus our efforts.
Transport and land use planning is an integral part of addressing global warming and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In this city, we already have a range of policy mechanisms in place to tackle this issue. This was recognised when we released the spatial plan in 2003. We said two very important things. The first was that we needed to contain growth within an urban containment boundary for our city, and we needed to try to then get that accepted in a regional framework as well. If you have highly dispersed settlement patterns and highly dispersed locations of housing that stretch out for kilometres, kilometres and kilometres away from the city centre, then you are fundamentally encouraging increasingly unsustainable levels of energy use associated with transport, particularly if your main reliance is on the private motor vehicle.
We said in the spatial plan that the urban containment boundary must be in place. That is 15 kilometres from the city centre. That is recognised and in place in the spatial plan. We also said in the spatial plan that intensification must occur within 7½ kilometres of the city centre. Again, that was designed to say that these are where the real gains can be made to reduce energy use associated with transport and
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