Page 2932 - Week 10 - Tuesday, 13 August 2013
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reality and that they are struck out before the variation is presented to either the planning committee or this place.
MR CORBELL (Molonglo—Attorney-General, Minister for Police and Emergency Services, Minister for Workplace Safety and Industrial Relations and Minister for the Environment and Sustainable Development) (8.35): This year’s budget continues the strong record of the government in improving the sustainability of our city, improving the strategic planning of our city and ensuring that as a city we are placed to meet the economic, social and environmental challenges of the next hundred years. This budget makes a number of important commitments in that respect when it comes to the Environment and Sustainable Development portfolio.
Whilst I will not venture into the detail and specifics of the capital metro project at this time, I will simply observe that in the current allocations for this portfolio $1.4 million has been provided for the development of a master plan to examine areas for future network expansion of the light rail project. This is important in ensuring that the planning for capital metro is not simply one line from point A to point B but part of a broader plan to strengthen and provide rail services across the city, over and consistent with a master planning arrangement.
The government will continue to establish its overarching framework for the development of the city centre. The city plan sets out the spatial and urban planning frameworks for the city centre. It will establish directions for change that will inform both private and public investment, assist with decision making to support the city centre’s cohesive and long-term viability, vibrancy and as a place to live, work and do business. The city plan will identify opportunities for growth and change and will also incorporate elements of the city to lake project initiatives and establish a clear path for the city centre in its local, regional and national roles. And the integration of public transport into the city plan is critical.
The government continues also with its strong program in relation to achieving reductions in our city’s greenhouse gas emissions and strengthening the pathway towards a more sustainable future. The government has set out its climate change strategy in action plan 2.
I note Mr Coe’s commentary that he is very concerned, apparently, about the accounting methodology for greenhouse gas reduction. If he was so concerned about it, why did he not make a recommendation about it? He did not say anything in the committee when it came to recommendations in the report about problems with the methodology in relation to greenhouse gas. And the committee did not even make any recommendations either. Nothing was said on this matter.
So either Mr Coe did not talk to his colleagues or give enough feedback into it or perhaps they just thought he was wrong when it came to the issue of greenhouse accounting methodology, because he knows, or should know, that those methodologies are nationally consistent methodologies and are administered not by the government but by the ICRC, an independent, arm’s-length, expert body, commissioned and required by law to produce a greenhouse gas inventory for the city each year. If Mr Coe has an issue with that, perhaps he should take it up with the
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