Page 763 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 26 February 2013
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This government, including their lone ACT Greens colleague, would have us believe that Canberrans can do without their cars. While I am not advocating the asphalting of every open space in the ACT or wanting to turn Canberra into one giant car park, I am advocating a greater emphasis on providing realistic solutions to the very real parking issues faced by most Canberrans on a daily basis.
In my view, the current government and the Labor governments before this one have failed to address the needs of Canberra commuters when it comes to parking. The fact is that the reality for most Canberrans who do not live in the inner urban areas is that they cannot rely solely on public transport or cycling to get around.
In recent years there has been an increase in the number of on-road cycleways, yet only experienced and competent riders feel comfortable using them. Yet I often hear from constituents who would like to occasionally ride to work as a means of getting in some regular exercise that they simply feel unsafe riding in such close proximity to traffic during peak times.
I take on board the challenges in providing a good public transport system that suits everyone. Yet in the planning of Canberra the concept was never to have the city centre as the morning destination for many of the city’s workforce. Instead, the idea was to have each of the town centres act as a mini-city where people lived, shopped and worked locally. It seems that that vision has long gone out the window and that the current government is still of the mindset that, wherever possible, ACT government public servants should be housed under one roof here in the city centre. If this is the direction this government wants to take development in this city, it is only reasonable to assume that sufficient provision is made to allow residents the freedom and choice to decide how they commute. However, this is no excuse for trying to force people out of their cars by either increasing the cost of parking or reducing the amount of car parking available. It is unrealistic at this moment in time to assume that we can reduce the amount of car parking we have in anticipation of a better public transport system. It is simply putting the cart before the horse.
The government’s own policy document outlining transport for Canberra states that one of the goals is to increase the public transport share of all work trips from a figure of 7.9 per cent in 2006 to 10.5 per cent by 2016 and further increase it to 16 per cent by 2026. This same policy aims to increase the number of cyclists travelling to work from 2½ per cent in 2006 to seven per cent in 2026. I believe it is an unrealistic goal, as census data tells us that 81 per cent of Canberrans travel to work by car. This is the second lowest usage rate of public transport in the country. This statistic is difficult to change in a city designed for the car.
The level of interest in parking shown by the previous Labor-Greens government can be illustrated in their parking strategy, which has remained in draft form since 2007, and in the sharp increases in parking fees seen over the years, particularly in our town centres.
I would like to focus some attention today on a number of areas in my electorate, Brindabella, that are particularly noteworthy as difficult places to park. One would be
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