Page 4844 - Week 11 - Thursday, 21 October 2010
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deliberately targeted medium and large scale generators and it is an example of the ACT leading the charge on energy sector reforms. It is groundbreaking legislation setting benchmarks for the rest of the country follow.
I digress briefly. I raised this very subject at the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association annual conference in Kenya. There was an incredible amount of interest from the smaller nations, particularly the Pacific Island nations who rely on diesel for the generation of their electricity. They were very interested to see how they could actually get the feed-in tariff and solar energy in their particular jurisdictions.
The government, importantly, does not shirk its responsibility to lead Canberra’s change to a low carbon future. Equally, reducing energy use at home and at work must be done in partnership with all sectors of the Canberra community. Chief among these is the home energy advice team, called HEAT, which has fielded more than 11,000 calls since 2008. For homes built before 1996, HEAT can carry out home visits to conduct a detailed two-hour examination of a property to assist in cutting energy costs.
As for the non-residential sector, two main programs are the focus of assistance. CitySwitch green office is a national tenant energy efficiency program that provides tenants with advice on ways to improve their energy efficiency. In addition, the government has partnered with building owners to provide the $4 million tune-up Canberra program to make existing commercial office buildings in Canberra more environmentally friendly. It provides grants with matching funding of up to $108,000 to help local businesses.
We all know that Canberra is a city in love with the car. However, the sustainable transport plan seems to deliver balance in transport options. It seeks to increase the percentage of people walking, cycling and using public transport to and from work from 13 per cent in 2001 to 20 per cent in 2011 and 30 per cent in 2026. Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistic indicates that we are on the way to achieving these targets.
Along with providing better lower emission buses, the government is also investing significantly in bicycle networks. Just this month the Acting Minister for Transport announced a new working group for walking and cycling infrastructure to provide advice on providing more pedestrian and cycling options. The working group’s main priority will be the Civic cycle loop, examining shared space on Bunda Street from Genge Street to Akuna Street and also on-road, possibly separated, cyclepaths from Allara Street to Bunda Street via Parkes Way, Marcus Clarke Street, Rudd Street and Allara Street.
The community has an appetite for this type of innovation, as is evidenced by the success of a recent ride-to-work day on 13 October—in appalling weather too, I might add. Despite the wind and rain, attendances were good, with over 100 people attending a government organised breakfast at the ABC 666 studios.
As champions of sustainability, all ACT public schools are committed to carbon neutrality by 2016 through the Australian sustainable schools initiative ACT. This is a
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