Page 3098 - Week 07 - Thursday, 30 June 2011
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
Transport planning also has very long-term effects. It will affect our city now and for future generations to come. As the minister recently said, the high level of car use we have in Canberra today is partly due to the network of roads that has been pursued by planners in Canberra in the past. In the last few weeks I have said a number of times that the Greens hold serious concerns about some aspects of the government’s approach to transport planning.
One issue that is very relevant to transport planning is, of course, the Majura freeway project. The Greens introduced a motion in the Assembly last week which would have required an independent expert in sustainable transport planning to examine the impact that the Majura freeway project would have on Canberra in a number of relevant areas, areas that have so far remained unexamined. The government and the Canberra Liberals did not support this.
The scrutiny the Greens are asking for goes to the heart of the ACT’s transport planning. Transport planning is now an explicit portfolio responsibility, as I have already said, in this new directorate. Therefore, it reinforces its importance. Yesterday in question time Ms Hunter asked the minister why he would not support the independent examination of the Majura parkway project. He said:
I am not going to accept that an independent expert, whoever that is—the independent expert appointed by the Greens on this issue. I could have a bit of a guess about who they would want to appoint. We are not interested in adopting an approach set up by the Greens to justify their particular ideological position in relation to arterial road provision.
I do not recall the Greens ever suggesting that we would have control of this process and somehow appoint our own expert. Nevertheless, I think it would have been good if we actually had passed this motion in this place. We could have someone who we would not be appointing ourselves—that is, that the Greens would not be appointing themselves—looking into this issue.
The other worrying issue is the repeated assertion that building a new freeway through the Majura Valley would have no impact on transport modal shift or on greenhouse emissions. I would welcome the minister elaborating on this position and providing his argument or evidence on this.
A recent study conducted by the Institute of Transport Economics on commission from the Norwegian public roads administration concluded that road construction increases greenhouse gas emission. Part of the reason for this it was concluded was that road building changes the modal split in favour of the private car at the expense of other sustainable transport options.
I think that if we are going to actually have a sensible and sustainable approach to this new portfolio area of transport planning, the government needs to accept and acknowledge the impacts caused by transport planning decisions.
I also wish to make some comments about wood heaters and wood smoke pollution. This is an area in which the government has taken action but where further work
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video