Page 3075 - Week 07 - Thursday, 30 June 2011
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the way it is linked to sustainability. I was pleased to received an answer that the government would develop and implement travel demand strategies to reduce per capita private vehicle travel, and hence overall crash risk.
I am very interested to receive further information on these travel demand strategies and I agree with the statement from the government that reducing per capita private vehicle travel will reduce crash risk. In fact, it is about the best way to improve road safety because public transport travel is much safer. So I would strongly encourage the government to ensure that its vision zero strategy does focus on reshaping Canberra’s transport patterns. The government has a central role to play in this.
I am also looking forward to the government implementing the 40-kilometre per hour speed limit trials in shopping areas of Woden and Gungahlin. These are an important part of the vision zero strategy. Slowing traffic recognises how critical speeds are in crashes involving vulnerable road users. On this note, I want to say that the Greens do remain disappointed that the government has not extended these reduced speed areas to community facilities. I believe that a genuine dedication to the vision zero philosophy requires this. At the very least, it requires a trial. I believe the consultant’s report as well as the abundance of other evidence around this issue is a justification for this.
I also want to point out that there is only a small amount of staff in the new directorate actually working on road safety. I believe three staff have moved over from TAMS and that they also have multiple issues to work on. I believe we need more dedicated resourcing to road safety. It is an important issue, as well as a broad one, and involves interaction across government. I am interested in the government developing a separate office for road safety which could approach road safety in a holistic way.
I draw the government’s attention to a recent road safety inquiry held in the UK which pointed out that particularly because of the complexity of the cultural change required with respect to road safety, a holistic approach is required and that a separate road safety office or road safety commission is recommended.
MR RATTENBURY (Molonglo) (8.32): When I started my budget speech last year with regard to the Department of Justice and Community Safety, as it then was, I said that the Attorney-General faced a challenging year in 2010-11 because there were a number of unique issues facing the department and, therefore, him as the minister. It is quite useful to stop and remember what the issues last year were and to reflect on what has occurred in the intervening 12 months. Of the five issues I highlighted last year, I think it is fair to say that there have been some mixed results. There have been some good results, there have been some delayed results, and there have been some outright bad results and missed opportunities.
Let’s start with the good news. Last year’s budget saw increased funding for emergency services communication centre staff, and this is very important in the context of the provision of ambulance services and followed the recommendations of the independent Lennox review. The funding was welcome last year. However, at that time, I made a point of stressing how important it was that the government follow another significant aspect of Lennox, which was that front-line ambulance staff
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