Page 446 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 21 March 2023
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Mr Hanson interjecting—
MR BARR: It is a societal challenge that we all face and seek to reduce and hopefully eliminate it. But let us be frank about this: it is occurring everywhere in the country, and in almost every setting. It is a societal problem that requires a whole-of-society solution, not cheap interjections in question time from the Deputy Leader of the Opposition.
Transport—electric buses
MS CLAY: My question is to the Minister for Transport and City Services. Minister, given the urgent need to both electrify and expand our bus fleet, can you detail what work has been done so far in planning for electrical upgrades for the Belconnen Bus Depot and for a future northside bus depot to enable these depots to move to all zero-emissions buses?
MR STEEL: I thank the member for her question and her interest in what the ACT government is doing with Transport Canberra in transitioning to a cleaner and more sustainable future for our bus fleet.
We have committed to transitioning our bus fleet by 2040, or earlier, to zero emissions—firstly, with the purchase of battery electric buses. But it goes beyond that, of course, to the charging infrastructure, which was the premise of the question. We have outlined in our Zero-Emission Transition Plan for Transport Canberra the steps we will take in relation to upgrading grid infrastructure to make sure that we have the charging capacity to support that fleet.
We are building a new Woden bus depot, and that will house electric buses going forward. We also recently made a decision—which was announced on 31 January—to bring forward the grid upgrades required to support up to 200 buses to be charged from the Tuggeranong depot. This will be much earlier than what was originally planned. It was originally meant to occur in the late 2020s and early 2030s. That has now been brought forward. As a result, the government is now reconsidering the time line and need for a fourth depot in the immediate future. We will be making further announcements about that. That will also be informed, as well, by a feasibility study that has been underway and is being considered by government at the moment.
MS CLAY: Minister, have you requested federal funding for this, given that electric bus depots in Sydney and Perth have received federal funds for their upgrades?
MR STEEL: We will certainly be continuing to have conversations with the commonwealth government about what the opportunities are for them to make a contribution to the transition. We have seen some of that funding go interstate, and we would like to see investment here. So we will continue to make those requests, including for the other parts of the plan, including the skills transition. We have already made requests to the federal government to make a contribution to make sure that we have heavy vehicle skills training infrastructure here in the ACT, which is important in making sure that we have a successful transition.
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