Page 3904 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 25 September 2019
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In conclusion, the living infrastructure plan is good for the future of Canberra. It will help our city to adapt to climate change. It will help to protect and improve our urban amenity. It will help to protect biodiversity, and help our wildlife survive in the sadly inevitable future of the city. It will help the people of Canberra to survive in the sadly inevitable hotter future of the city.
We do not want a city where the only place in which you can be at all comfortable in the summer is in an air-conditioned apartment, an air-conditioned office or an air-conditioned shopping mall. We want Canberra to be a place where it is safe and pleasant to go outside, even in the summer.
There are lots of other good things in Mr Gupta’s motion, and I look forward to all of them being implemented quickly. I note that Mr Coe made some positive comments about trees; thus I hope that the Liberals will support the implementation of the living infrastructure plan.
MS ORR (Yerrabi—Minister for Community Services and Facilities, Minister for Disability, Minister for Employment and Workplace Safety and Minister for Government Services and Procurement) (5.36): I thank Mr Gupta for bringing forward this motion today which highlights the government’s strong commitment to acting on climate change for the benefit of every Canberran. The ACT climate change strategy 2019-25 outlines the next steps that we need take to reduce our impact on the environment and ensure that our transition to a cleaner future involves every Canberran, not just those who can afford it.
As a government we are taking real action on climate change. This strategy will focus on community leadership and just transitions; creating a cleaner and more accessible public transport system; our energy, buildings and urban development; the ACT government leading industry and the community; waste avoidance and management; and land use and biodiversity.
We will support Canberrans to transition from using gas as an energy source to renewable electricity and we will plant more trees across the ACT. We will support households to improve their energy efficiency, which will reduce their energy bills and their impact on the environment. We will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reach our target of net zero emissions by 2045. All these important actions will be taken to protect our environment and the people who live in our city.
Mr Gupta’s motion calls on the ACT government to initiate a comprehensive awareness program and actively promote the measures outlined in the climate strategy. I support this call and I think it is vital that, as a government and as members of this Assembly, we provide Canberrans with information and support to understand why we are pushing this progressive climate agenda. I note that members of the opposition have been running commentary about the strategy that seeks to cause confusion and fear amongst the community. It is disappointing that those opposite are trying to spread misinformation rather than support Canberrans to transition to a cleaner future.
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