Page 821 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 9 March 2016
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technologies are rapidly changing, with any prescriptive legislative regime running the risk of obsolescence and jeopardising the government’s ability to attract potential autonomous vehicle operators to the ACT.
The government is interested in driverless vehicle technology and is in fact actively pursuing opportunities to bring the technology, in the form of trials, to Canberra. The Chief Minister spoke yesterday in detail about this, talking about how the ACT government is working with stakeholders and talking to leaders in the autonomous vehicle industry. This work has been going on for some time already. This is a sensible and proactive approach which I believe will result in the ACT leading in this new and innovative area, just as we have done in other areas such as the regulation of ride sharing.
I have also made clear, as the road safety minister, that I believe driverless vehicles have potential to improve road safety. They can potentially help improve social inclusion for people who currently are unable to drive due to reasons such as old age and disability. They can potentially improve access to our public transport system, they can integrate with public transport, and public transport vehicles themselves may even be driverless. The ACT government is keen to support these innovations. I have also said that we need to be realistic about what autonomous vehicles can deliver, and what they mean for transport and city planning. It would be a mistake to argue that autonomous cars will displace public transport, which can move people efficiently, and en masse, and is a fundamental part of a sustainable city.
I do not think that it is any surprise that the Canberra Liberals have started championing autonomous vehicles at the same time they campaign against public transport. There are clearly divergent views in this Assembly, with the Liberal Party believing our city should be focused on the car, in complete ignorance of the serious problems that come with that: pollution, congestion, higher costs, decreased amenity and social exclusion.
At the other end of the spectrum, the ACT Greens and the Labor Party have agreed that we want to address these challenges and bring Canberrans the benefits of sustainable transport—reflected, of course, in our shared commitment to a range of public transport improvements in this city as outlined in the plan that Minister Gentleman, the Chief Minister, Minister Corbell and I launched late last year and, perhaps in its most high profile form, the commitment to the first stage of the capital metro project.
In conclusion, I want to emphasise that the government welcomes the opportunity to harness the potential benefits of autonomous vehicles. The bill, unfortunately, does not assist in this regard. It possibly would even be a hindrance. So the government, and I and members of the Labor Party, will not be voting in support of this bill today. However, in the meantime I look forward to seeing the progress we can make on the issue of autonomous vehicles as well as other transport innovations that will help our city to be productive, sustainable and inclusive.
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