Page 3415 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 17 August 2011
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people, actually, and I think maybe of where they live or their photos. But to say that the car represents a family, for most people I think cars represent transportation services. That is actually why we have them—so that we can get to places.
Mr Coe interjecting—
MR SPEAKER: Thank you, Mr Coe; you were heard in silence.
MS LE COUTEUR: I agree that many people have a positive relationship with their car. I have a positive relationship with my car. I am very happy with my cute little Smart, I must say.
Mr Coe interjecting—
MR SPEAKER: One moment, Ms Le Couteur. Mr Coe, you are already on a warning for interjecting. I have just spoken to you and you have interjected again within 15 seconds. It is not acceptable. You will go out next time.
MS LE COUTEUR: Mr Coe then went on to say—he was talking about Hawker—that car parks are the heart of a shopping centre. Again, I actually do not think there are many people who would regard a car park as the heart of a shopping centre. Any shopping centre that the car park is the heart of I think is doomed to fail. People go to shopping centres for shops and for community facilities. They may use the parking facilities there. They might have come by bus, they might have walked, they might have ridden their bike. But the car park is not the heart of the shopping centre.
Mr Coe, in his speech of the 29th, which I am quoting from because it is easier than taking notes on his speech today, said:
The Greens here, in their hatred of oil and their dislike of families, use things such as peak oil to limit the opportunities and freedoms that so many people in Canberra and around Australia do enjoy.
In fact, I contend that it is the exact opposite. What the Greens are saying is that the world is changing. We are in a situation where at least two things are happening. Peak oil has probably already happened. I will not go through all the reasoning behind that statement because we did have an MPI discussion on it in March; suffice to say that we live in a finite world and every resource is finite. The evidence from the International Energy Agency is that peak production of crude oil has already been reached a few years ago. So we have reached, or are reaching, peak oil.
We also have a significant problem of climate change. Oil use produces carbon dioxide, CO2. It is a significant issue with climate change. So the Greens are trying to say that we do not want to limit the freedom of people. In particular, I agree with Mr Coe that people out in Tuggeranong and Belconnen are not well served by public transport. Something better needs to be done for them. But the something better is not more car parks. I guess that is where we disagree. The something better is decent public transport. The something better is footpaths that are not broken, so that people can use them without falling over. The something better is cycle facilities where
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