Page 4874 - Week 11 - Thursday, 21 October 2010
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sustainable futures program, importantly, to involve the community in discussions about Canberra’s future sustainability. The views arising out of the competition will feed into the evaluation of the Canberra spatial plan and feed into the consideration around the Canberra 2030 time to talk initiative.
The Canberra 2030 competition “your city, your vision” is part of an ACT government program to seek the community’s views on how to plan for a more sustainable city in response to climate change. We are planning a future Canberra that has a smaller carbon footprint, uses less energy and less water and makes best use of land and resources. We are planning for a future Canberra that is vibrant and prosperous, that caters for a growing population but also one that is ageing. We are planning for a future Canberra that provides housing and lifestyles that will continue to attract and retain young people, who will be critical to keeping our economy strong over the next 50 years.
I think that your city, your vision as a competition was, for students, a fun and constructive way to engage in a debate about Canberra’s future. I am pleased to say that students expressed an amazing range of ideas and demonstrated how much they care about the future of their city. The range of ideas that were demonstrated through this program show that our education system is working well to engage students in the challenges and strategies that we need as a community to develop to cope with climate change, something that they will certainly face in their lifetime. It is great to see young Canberrans involving themselves and continuing to be involved in this debate.
The issues that were raised in this particular consultation and through this competition included some thinking about balancing increasing population with the limited space that we have in this city, looking at providing more energy efficient public transport, looking at ways to reduce our water and our waste, looking at ways to make our building more sustainable, and ensuring that there are still plenty of green spaces in our city.
I am very pleased to advise the Assembly that the winners included the year 6 group at Holy Spirit primary school, Tom Smethurst from Red Hill, Hamish Williams from Fadden primary school, Rachel Wilson from Radford college, and Callum McBride from Narrabundah college. There was also a range of other students and student representative councils who participated in this competition. I would like to congratulate them all on their passion for the future of a sustainable Canberra.
MS PORTER: A supplementary?
MR SPEAKER: A supplementary question, Ms Porter.
MS PORTER: Minister, what other initiatives will you be undertaking to ensure the voice of young people is heard in planning for the city’s future?
MR BARR: This is a critical issue. So much of the public debate about the future of our city is being dominated by people who will not be alive in the middle of this century, so it is critical that we engage with young people now about the next 20 years
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