Page 4569 - Week 11 - Tuesday, 18 October 2011
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background paper on food, as I mentioned. My colleague Ms Le Couteur will also discuss some of these issues. The Greens believe increased food production opportunities include community gardens, better use of nature strips, wise increased plantings of fruit trees, better use of compost through our waste strategy, support for a city farm, and working with the federal government to speed up the progress on a national food security plan.
Although the government commends the role of the 20 or so existing community gardens in the ACT, this is not a large number for a city of over 300,000 people spread out over 93 or so suburbs. It would be pleasing to see this number increased substantially over the next few years. I would also like to see a more concrete commitment to community gardens being provided in all new suburbs. This is something that should be established from the start of a new development.
I note that the government states that they are currently implementing a range of initiatives to support community gardens in the ACT, and I look forward to hearing more from the minister on progress in this area and progress by the government’s interdepartmental committee on community gardens generally.
Although the ACT is only a small jurisdiction, it is important that we tackle the issue and coordinate regionally and nationally, as we will never be able to be 100 per cent self-sufficient in the ACT. We simply do not have the land or the appropriate resources. This is where the ACT government can provide the initial levers to progress a national food security plan with its own regional model that could stand to facilitate an ideas bank for advancing a COAG process on it. Members may recall Ms Le Couteur’s statements about food in the peak oil MPI a few months ago, and I will go to some of those:
At the supermarket, grocery prices will have skyrocketed. Most of Canberra's food is trucked here from interstate or flown in from overseas. With the price of oil, and consequently the price of transport fuels, escalating, the price of our food will too. What about growing the food? Major food production systems use diesel to run the machinery and they use oil-based fertilisers and pesticides. They use oil-based pharmaceuticals to treat dairy and meat animals. What will the cost of food be when all of that is factored in?
This scenario only touches on some of the ways that peak oil will impact on our lives. The complexity of this issue will require government, the parliament, business and all in the community to work together. I believe we can all agree in the Assembly that food production needs a multidisciplinary, cross-party, community and business response that is timely and effective. The ACT Greens believe it is vital to pursue this collaboratively and pioneer a way for the ACT to take a leadership role for the ACT community on food security.
MR CORBELL (Molonglo—Attorney-General, Minister for the Environment and Sustainable Development, Minister for Territory and Municipal Services and Minister for Police and Emergency Services) (4.36): I would like to thank Ms Bresnan for bringing forward this matter of public importance today. Yesterday I released the draft ACT planning strategy for public comment. Amongst other things, this draft strategy recognises the importance of food security and food production not just for the territory but for our region.
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