Page 736 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 31 March 2021
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I agree that this is an important issue. I cannot help wondering why we need such a motion. As Mr Braddock has noted, the Labor-Greens parliamentary agreement lists as a key priority “continuing work towards reaching a 30% urban tree canopy”. Mr Braddock is a member of that government—the Greens party whip, no less. That begs the question of whether Mr Braddock doubts whether his own government will achieve this target. Does the Greens MLA for Yerrabi have such little faith and confidence in this hybrid Labor-Greens government honouring its election commitments that he resorts to a motion in the Legislative Assembly to remind them, to hammer home the importance of what they have promised?
We know not to invest too much in the Labor-Greens parliamentary agreement, not to mention the Labor-Greens election commitments that were not included in the agreement. These commitments, such as much-needed funding for our community catchment groups, are subject to budget considerations, we are told.
While Canberrans are rightly proud of our bush capital—a city of clean air, trees, lovely gardens and well-maintained parkland and reserves—we cannot take this for granted. Sadly, 20 years of Labor-Greens governments have led to a decline in Canberra’s environment. Consider these points. Canberra is losing 3,000 trees each year, and the tree canopy is shrinking. Parks and reserves are poorly maintained, and nature strips are often weed infested. Many streets in Canberra’s newer suburbs are almost treeless, and communities are deprived of their much-needed green space.
Consider a recent report from the Conservation Council and Monash University that reveals that since 2013 urban vegetation in Canberra has almost halved, from 60 per cent to 35 per cent. The report shames Canberra as the worst-performing major city in Australia when it comes to urban vegetation decline. Shame. What is the point of the Labor-Greens government trumpeting climate change as its number one priority when the same government has presided over the largest reduction in urban vegetation in any major Australian city?
Another report was released last year by RMIT University and Greener Spaces Better Places. It found that since 2016 in the ACT, green spaces—trees, grass and shrubs—increased by just 1.3 per cent, while grey spaces—roads, cars, car parks and roofs—increased by 1.4 per cent. The Where will all the trees be? national tree canopy benchmarking document has warned that the ACT could face problems just maintaining green cover as our population grows and new suburbs are developed.
The Canberra Liberals support the Greens motion calling on its own government to achieve tree canopy targets set by the Greens and adopted by Labor. As I have said, such a motion, by a government member holding his own government to account, should not be necessary. Perhaps the junior government partner knows more than we do about this government’s real priorities.
The Canberra Liberals went to the last election with strong environment policies, including planting one million trees to increase our urban tree canopy, provide guaranteed green space, improve our parks and reserves and conserve water and reduce emissions. The Liberals’ commitment to plant one million trees over a 10-year
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