Page 1966 - Week 05 - Thursday, 5 May 2011
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The budget also delivers $1.5 million to look into infill development opportunities for town and group centres, as well as transport corridors. Hopefully, this is a sign that the government is moving towards a better understanding generally of how infill development should revolve around transport corridors and a shift in the way we build new areas. This is the first budget after the new ACT government structure has been announced. We now have the Sustainable Development Directorate, which includes strategic land use and transport planning, as well as planning and ACTPLA. We very much hope that this will bring more integrated and sustainable planning decisions in the future.
We welcome the $4.2 million over four years towards more master planning for group centres, transport corridors and rural villages. We called for more dedicated funds for ACTPLA to undertake localised planning in our budget bids this year. Developing master plans around group centres and transport corridors is a key step in terms of making a more sustainable urban form. The master planning process involves extensive community consultation, so we hope that this will lead to a common vision for key areas between local communities and planners.
We are pleased that $6.667 million has been put aside over four years to improve building quality regulation and towards solving the currently flawed system. There are growing concerns for many ACT residents about the quality of some of our newer buildings and, especially in the past few years, multi-unit developments. Issues include leaking showers in apartments, glass falling from balconies and the like. We need to be certain that our buildings in future will be safe and continue to be useable for decades. So we do need this additional money for ACTPLA to better regulate and audit buildings and certifiers.
We have also been pushing the government over the last few years to improve the robustness of the building energy efficiency ratings system. So we are very pleased that there are funds to properly establish a licensing system for energy assessors and increase the level and standard of auditing. The $1.35 million will support this. I am sure that, as energy costs rise, residents will be happy to know that they can trust their ratings as they will be audited and meaningful.
Last year I called for appropriate funding to be restored to the urban forest renewal program, in consideration of recommendations made by the commissioner for the environment, by this budget, and to ensure that there were sufficient funds available to replace street trees as necessary. My amendment was passed and I am very glad to see that $6.2 million has been allocated to this.
The commissioner made it clear in her report that the government needs to refocus its program on the care and maintenance of Canberra’s treed landscape. The Greens support the new urban treescape program which will implement the commissioner’s recommendations. The Greens welcome the government’s announcement that there will finally be street level recycling bins installed in Civic, as outlined in the parliamentary agreement.
Once it is clear that Canberrans do indeed know how to separate their recyclables in public places as well as at home, we look forward to recycling bins being introduced
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