Page 5421 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 16 November 2010
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the area where I have most concerns. As this estate is currently planned, no bus services will go into it. There will be a footpath, but it will be over a kilometre from many houses to that bus stop, and it is not a very frequent bus stop. We also recommended that the mature remnant native trees be retained.
Getting back to the major issue around the bus provision, basically, this development does not meet ACTPLA’s normal requirements for bus provision, as is detailed in the report. The report spends a couple of pages going through the estate development rules, which say that you need to have a bus stop within 400 metres of the vast majority of development. We do not have that in this development, and we did not have it in the earlier development in Holt that goes between the two parts of the golf course. So I strongly feel that this development should be modified to allow a bus service and that a bus service should be provided.
I note that last month the Assembly passed legislation committing the ACT to a 40 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. As the debate made clear, this, while quite possible, is an ambitious target. I think we are going in the wrong direction if we continue to do new developments which do not have public transport provision. Given that the Assembly has recognised the importance of greenhouse gas, it is imperative that we act on this in the future and make sure that we do not plan places that do not have public transport.
The other comments that I made were, as Ms Porter mentioned, that the marketing of this is designed to be age specific. I would be much happier to see a mix of household and dwelling types. I think that in the long run the place would be a lot more sustainable, a lot more vibrant and have a lot better community if there was a mix of people.
I have mentioned that I am concerned about greenhouse gas emissions and public transport. Finally, I think that the development will be considerably improved if the planning minister takes up the recommendations of both my additional comments and those of the committee as a whole.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
Sitting suspended from 11.54 am to 2 pm.
Document—tabling
Statement by Speaker
MR SPEAKER: Members, I would like to make a brief statement regarding standing order 213. On 28 October, Ms Burch was ordered to table a document she quoted from, pursuant to standing order 213. In my statement to the Assembly that day I referred to the practical difficulties posed by the standing order and the broader question of what constitutes a document.
Mr Corbell also referred to the potential impact the implementation of the standing order may have on the effective operation of question time should minsters be liable to table their question time briefs. In addressing Mr Corbell’s concern, I draw to the Assembly’s attention a quote by a minister in 1995:
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