Page 886 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 20 March 2019
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(c) the Government is undertaking work under the existing Climate Change Adaptation strategy to review these standards for suitability for the current and future climate;
(d) the Government is developing a guideline for apartments that includes planning matters such as the design and siting of a building for cross-ventilation, passive solar design and appropriate seasonal shading;
(e) the Government reports annually on the number and outcomes of energy efficiency standard audits;
(f) the Government’s Energy Efficiency Improvement Scheme is improving household heating, cooling and energy efficiency, and reducing energy bills;
(i) the 2018/19 Budget extended the scheme to public housing, and will see significant upgrades in 2 200 public housing homes over three years;
(g) ACT Housing contacts vulnerable tenants during heatwaves to check on their safety; and
(h) ESA and ACT Health provide advice for people on how to keep healthy and safe in extreme weather; and
(7) calls on the Government to:
(a) investigate potential changes to planning rules to improve apartment design and reduce summer heat inside new apartments, including requirements for improved solar access, external summer shading, adequate cross-ventilation; and
(b) improve monitoring of building quality to ensure that buildings meet the EER rating they were approved with.”
MR PARTON (Brindabella) (5.17): The Canberra Liberals will be supporting the Labor amendments to this motion from my Greens colleague Ms Le Couteur. My office has played a role in getting those amendments to a point where they would be palatable, at least in part, to all three parties in this place. If the government that Ms Le Couteur underwrites has its way, and probably even if it does not, there will be thousands upon thousands of apartments lining the Northbourne corridor, so it will be vital that residents are assured that their dwellings will be as cool as they can be in summer and as warm as they can be in winter. I think that is a given.
At the heart of this motion, we are talking about important stuff that affects the lives of people. We are constantly reminded of Canberra’s climatic extremes, which will inevitably persist. But after a century of construction experience in the territory, for the most part, the building industry has probably got our temperature management requirements relatively down pat.
We have just gone through a very extreme summer. Ms Le Couteur’s motion points out that some builders do not build to the appropriate standard. It provides a grim reminder that the quality of construction in the territory is not always of the highest standard. This will persist while ever most of Mr Ramsay’s building regulation reforms remain stranded in a glossy brochure. I know the minister has spoken about
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