Page 2858 - Week 07 - Thursday, 7 June 2012
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Turning to climate change and the environment, whilst there have been some positive initiatives like the carbon neutral schools program, energy efficiency measures in government buildings and some transport initiatives, the budget appears to make only very limited progress on our responsibility to tackle climate change.
There are some very welcome new initiatives. The penny has finally dropped for the government, and particularly, I think, for the Treasurer, that investing in energy efficiency is a good economic, as well as environmental, decision. Once again, this is where spending is an investment: every cent, and ultimately much more, that we spend on these types of measures will come back to the budget over time.
The Treasurer did say that we are the most sustainable city in Australia. Certainly we have great ambition for sustainability. But resting on greenhouse gas reduction target legislation will not actually get us there. There is some investment in public transport and energy efficiency for government buildings, but for the rest of the community there is nowhere near sufficient money to deliver the outcome we have committed to in just eight short years.
The government understands that tax reform will be a long road—20 years, in fact. Let me say that the challenges of climate change are far greater, and just as the Treasurer decries delay and recognises that if you never start the process you never finish in relation to tax reform, so too will our greenhouse gas targets continue to be a distant aspiration if we do not really make a concerted effort to change the way we do things.
Sustainable transport has been a key priority for the ACT Greens throughout this Assembly. As the tax review said, investing in transport along development corridors will not only assist in achieving a more compact and sustainable city but also remove the need for further expenditure and the imposition of congestion charges later.
The Greens have consistently said that the territory needs to take bold transport decisions to ensure that we have a sustainable, convenient and connected city in the future—projects like light rail, new transit lanes, expanded bus services, and walking and cycling facilities that will make us a leading city in this area.
If we do not address Canberra’s inadequate public transport and our growing congestion, it will cost us much more in the long run. We have argued that smart and strategic investment in sustainable transport is the best way to create a Canberra that is not only convenient, but resilient to the environmental and economic challenges we are facing.
This year’s budget moves us in that direction, but it only moves us slowly. One of the notable things about this year’s transport budget is that there is a capital spend on public transport, but it is relatively modest.
I suspect that the restrained investment in sustainable transport is due to a hangover from this government’s recent decisions on Canberra’s transport priorities. The government has committed to building a large freeway through the Majura valley, a
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