Page 262 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 7 March 2007
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These challenges are real in Canberra and are significant because of the highly dispersed nature of our city. We are about half the geographic size of Melbourne, but with only 300,000 residents. That really highlights the real transport and spatial challenges we face.
What are the government’s future directions in this area? First of all, when it comes to transport, we have recently released our new parking strategy, which is designed to put in place a policy framework that encourages people to consider other transport modes for some of their journeys. The proposals are modest but significant in the Canberra context, in terms of reducing the growth in the level of parking and in terms of putting in place a sustainable transport contributions fund to support other modes of transport into the future, not just car parking. Those are important measures.
On the land release and development side of things, we are undertaking the work in relation to Eastlake. Shortly I will be making a major announcement about the ACT government entering into an alliance with the CSIRO to develop a sustainable communities initiative at Eastlake. That initiative will see us using the resources of the CSIRO locally in terms of building and establishing a strong research base and parameters for the development of a best practice, sustainable development in Eastlake. That information will also be used for other development in the Molonglo Valley.
Finally, turning very quickly to the area of building: the government has runs on the board in terms of a mandatory five-star rating for all new single residential buildings. We have also put in place significant measures in terms of reducing water use by 40 per cent. So part of the water use must be reduced by 40 per cent in all new estates, homes and commercial buildings. Those guidelines were released by the government last year.
Further work is to be done on mandating and pushing the owners of commercial buildings and retail buildings to lift the energy performance of their buildings. The government is currently exploring a range of mechanisms to tackle this issue further, in conjunction with the Green Building Council of Australia. There are a range of initiatives on foot and already in place. The government believes it is taking an important leadership role in pushing these issues.
I conclude by highlighting that the government is also advocating at a national level the development of a national action plan to create sustainable cities around the country. Members may have seen some coverage of this in the Sydney Morning Herald a couple of weeks ago and in the Canberra Times. The ACT is a lead jurisdiction in encouraging all states and territories to sign up to a national action plan for sustainable communities, a national action plan that would see the commonwealth government providing support for initiatives that improve the sustainability of our cities, the establishment of a national commission for sustainability and the implementation of local action plans which deliver the outcomes on the ground in terms of environmental, social and economic sustainability for communities.
This agenda is a significant, wide-ranging and complex one. I welcome the opportunity to discuss it further with members if they are interested. The government
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