Page 901 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 20 March 2019

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(c) the Government is continuingly improving pedestrian footpath connections in our suburbs with the Age Friendly Suburbs Program providing a rolling schedule of upgrades to make our suburbs even more age friendly; and

(d) all Canberrans can report problems with footpaths and other suburban infrastructure by calling Access Canberra or reporting an issue online through Fix My Street.

(4) calls on the ACT Government to:

(a) use the Age-Friendly Canberra: A Vision For Our City to guide policymaking to ensure its positive impact on the lives of our senior Canberrans;

(b) continue the development of the Age-Friendly City Plan;

(d) continue to upgrade and enhance pathways in our suburbs to improve pedestrian accessibility and connections.

MS LE COUTEUR (Murrumbidgee) (6.09): I stand here today to support the amendment put forward by the government. I cannot quite agree with Ms Lawder’s comments that the ACT government has to change its attitude. Sadly or realistically, I think that the ACT government’s attitude towards older people is a reflection of the attitude of the Australian community. Some of it is good, and some of it is bad. Some of it is disrespectful, and some of it is respectful. That is unfortunate sometimes, and sometimes that is fortunate. I do not think, though, that that is a call which is particularly helpful in terms of actually making a change on the ground.

This week, as we all know—and the two previous speakers have spoken about it of course—is Seniors Week, and this is a week for us to stop to appreciate the contributions of older people in our community. This is a week to show respect and to increase the respect the rest of the community has for older Canberrans. It gives everybody a platform to recognise older people’s involvement in and their value to our community and our society. As someone who is now an older Canberran, I can attest that many older people are still actively part of community life. The Greens believe, as I am sure everyone in the Assembly does, that a well-functioning society should value all of its members, older and younger, and middle aged even.

Looking at the suburb issue, which was talked about by Ms Lawder and Minister Ramsay, of course that means that our suburbs should be safe, accessible and easy to navigate for all of us. Age-friendly is really just people-friendly design that is good for older and younger people. It is good for everybody. Age friendly is also generally environmentally friendly. Cities that are designed to be age friendly are safe, often have slower speed environments and encourage walking and cycling. And these qualities also make a more environmentally friendly city.

The World Health Organisation checklist of essential features of an age-friendly city includes improvements such as new and wider footpaths, community paths, seating, ramps, pedestrian crossings, toilets and other design features. Examples of ways to

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