Page 3323 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 21 August 2018
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I think it has been really great that we are in the middle of a large debate about our bus routes and timetables. A few decades ago we did not really have these debates. Everyone assumed that you travel by private motor vehicle, that you would walk or ride your bike. That is certainly how it was when I grew up. There was very little public transport. I am very pleased at the good initiatives of the government.
I acknowledge the commitment to light rail, more funding for active travel and the commitment to expand bus networks. But we are not there yet. There needs to be more money going to public transport and to active transport. Unfortunately, the planning budget contains decisions that continue to lock Canberra into a future of unsustainable private car travel.
Our light rail will be using 100 per cent renewable electricity. Over the next five to 10 years, I think we are going to see a real expansion of zero emission private cars. Electric cars are becoming more affordable and we will see them more and more on our streets. But we also need a clear ACT government commitment to transition our bus fleet to a zero emissions fleet.
This was something we talked about at some length in the estimates process. I would really like to see a clear commitment to do it, not just to looking at doing it. It seems that there is no strategy at present. It was one of the policies of the Greens at the last election. I think it would be possible to have a carbon neutral fleet reasonably soon—in the next 15 years or so—but only if we actually start phasing out polluting vehicles and start purchasing zero emission technologies.
There are lots of other cities that are making progress on this. In London 20 per cent of the bus fleet is already hybrid electric and they are operating 17 electric-only buses. They are even trialling buses running on biofuel made from catering industry cooking oil.
The government also needs to do more work in relation to emissions from stationary energy. As the Greens said during the last election, it is now appropriate for cities to start phasing out the use of gas. It is a polluting fossil fuel. There are no two ways about that. Of course, it is also now possible to build comfortable and more economical all-electric suburbs that can work on 100 per cent renewable energy.
I am pleased to say that I believe the initial development out at Ginninderry will be an all-electric suburb working on 100 per cent electricity. Unfortunately, our Territory Plan at present still requires developments to have gas infrastructure installed. This is an expensive and obsolete provision. I think it is time that we changed the plan to remove this.
The ACT government should also be setting a standard whereby its new facilities, whether these are schools, pools or other buildings, are built to the best environmental standards consistent with our zero net emissions trajectory, preferably electric only and avoiding the use of gas.
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