Page 3266 - Week 10 - Thursday, 25 September 2014
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I would like to state my strong support for the government response and welcome the collaborative approach to its development, with input across government agencies. The government response to this report and the commitments it has made are quite significant.
In my view this report, the government response and the commitments that the government has made going forward are very important to the future of this city. Beyond that, I think they are going to set a new standard that will encourage other jurisdictions to take action.
With the acceptance and implementation of the recommendations of the committee, the ACT is in the position of becoming Australia’s leading jurisdiction for supporting, encouraging and protecting the range of users that make up this category of vulnerable road users. I am optimistic that this signals a turning point that will lead to improved safety and a growth of sustainable transport. From that grows a variety of related benefits such as an increasingly welcoming and vibrant urban environment.
The measures committed to by the government are beneficial on several levels. First, they signal an important shift in government attitude. The response recognises the importance of taking measures to prioritise and improve safety for vulnerable road users. It recognises that this area deserves special attention and commitment. As members will know, these are issues the Greens have been actively pursuing for many years. Members will remember that earlier this year the term “vulnerable road users” was defined in the ACT’s road transport legislation for the first time. This was also, I believe, the first time such a definition has been used in any Australian legislation.
The report recognises that these measures are both good for users, because it helps keep them safe, and an effective way to improve the overall sustainability and character of our city. That, of course, is beneficial to all road users. The government’s response to this report encompasses numerous parts of government—Territory and Municipal Services, planning, education, the Land Development Agency, and Justice and Community Safety. My hope and expectation is that this new attitude will become ingrained in the work of these directorates.
Let me briefly touch on some of the specifics in the government response and what the changes mean. They occur in different categories, including planning and policy, rules and regulation, educational measures, and infrastructure changes—a wise approach, as a suite of coordinated changes will obviously work better than changes in isolation.
An example of changes to occur in the planning and policy space is the development of a formal urban design hierarchy, prioritising vulnerable road users, which would provide overarching guidance to government planning and design decisions. It would say, for example, that first we prioritise pedestrians, and then cyclists, ahead of private motor vehicles. This will filter through to all kinds of planning and design decisions, and it is important to ensuring our city is designed properly as new suburbs are built.
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