Page 3516 - Week 10 - Tuesday, 12 September 2017
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to hear that the Ministerial Advisory Committee on Ageing is investigating these issues and I will be keen to hear what they have to say.
Another issue that I support is the development of age-friendly suburbs as the demographics of Canberra change and it is certain that we will have more aged people in our city as we move forward. I would also point out that age-friendly suburbs are not friendly just for aged people, they are friendly for all of us. The crossing at the edge of a footpath is known as a pram crossing but it also works very well for someone in a wheelchair or for someone on a walker. An age-friendly suburb is friendly for young people and old people and anyone in between who has got any mobility issues.
I am also very pleased that the flexible bus system, which was included in the parliamentary agreement, has just been rolled out in the inner north. I am really pleased that it has had the wonderful, positive reception which we expected it to have. Other issues of relevance in the parliamentary agreement include raising the profile of the active travel office and, through the office, coordinating the rollout of the $30 million in additional priority footpath maintenance, cycling and walking route upgrades, as well as age-friendly improvements in our shopping centres and, as I mentioned, the age-friendly suburbs for our existing suburbs. These improvements are vital for older people and younger people so that we can navigate safely around our neighbourhoods and town centres.
The parliamentary agreement also includes encouraging bus patronage by implementing free bus travel for seniors and concession cardholders—unfortunately excluding students—on all routes and two months free bus travel on all new rapid bus routes for all travellers. That, obviously for the broader community, I think is a particularly useful one because, if we can get people realising that bus travel can work, they will use it more.
On this I might note that we have to be really mindful of the impact of the recent bus timetable changes, which have been announced but not yet implemented, on people whose independence relies on being able to catch a bus and not just on commuter services for people for whom bus travel is an option. I think it is in the order of a third of people in Canberra who do not have car licences. We need to make sure that localities where larger groups of elderly people are living are considered for bus stops. Sometimes it is only a small deviation from the main road or from where the bus has been going in the past to make a positive difference to someone’s life.
I note that the current changes have left some areas with fewer bus services than they currently have. I am already receiving emails about this. I think that it is unfortunate but I am very hopeful that light rail stage 1, which will free up a large number of bus services—the light rail will provide the services that the buses were—will lead to an improvement in public transport not just for the inner north and Gungahlin where the light rail will be but for the rest of Canberra and that the bus services that have been freed up will be used to improve the public transport service for all of us and in particular people who actually rely on buses to get around.
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