Page 1217 - Week 05 - Thursday, 4 June 2020
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which is the subject of Mr Rattenbury’s motion was made in 1998, and that was a very different time for our city. In 1998 Canberra’s population had just gone over 300,000 people and the average house price was just over $155,000.
According to the 2001 census, 9.6 per cent of houses in Canberra were flats, units or apartment buildings, compared to 15 per cent in 2016. The areas outlined in the motion, as we know, have seen significant changes in the last 20 or so years, with a significant increase in the number of multi-unit developments in particular. In 2001, 64 per cent of dwellings in Braddon were flats, units or apartments, compared to 79 per cent in 2016. Kingston went from 78 per cent to 88 per cent, and Dickson from 10 per cent to 28 per cent.
The ACT is a growing and thriving community, the second fastest growing city in the country after Melbourne. The government knows that if we want to build a more sustainable city, we have to support a more compact and efficient city. More people living together in multi-unit and mixed use developments presents a range of benefits as well as challenges for our city, particularly in regard to waste management.
Some multi-unit developments in our city are similar in size to entire suburbs. Waste management in these MUDs poses unique challenges, such as ensuring adequate space for waste collection vehicles to enter. In foreshadowing Ms Lawder’s proposed amendments to the motion, this was addressed through a recent review and amendment to the code with regard to the development of MUDs and waste management.
Future planning is also essential. Some MUDs built at the time that the code was last updated may have only had a bin chute for general waste, with limited options for recycling. Nowadays Canberrans are keen recyclers and want to do the right thing by separating their waste and recycling correctly. Added levels of complexity come into the equation when you have domestic waste collection services, provided by the government, and commercial waste collection services, undertaken by private businesses or strata management, happening in the same building through mixed use developments.
While Mr Rattenbury’s motion outlines the importance of waste collections happening at an appropriate time in residential areas, I do wish to note that the government has temporarily allowed residential waste collections to commence from 5 am during the health emergency, compared to the usual time of 7 am This has enabled a split shift arrangement to be put in place to ensure that drivers of garbage trucks minimise interactions with each other before and after their shifts.
I would like to take this opportunity to put on the record my thanks and the thanks of the government to SUEZ employees, who have started work much earlier than usual to help protect the community and still deliver essential waste services to households during the pandemic, including to multi-unit homes during the health emergency.
Looking at policy settings beyond the pandemic, the ACT government, through the EPA and the NOWaste team within Transport Canberra and City Services, will support a review of the code of practice by facilitating discussions with industry to
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