Page 1583 - Week 04 - Thursday, 29 March 2012
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There are, of course, in Canberra quite a number of houses which are already carbon neutral and they do that, firstly, by energy efficiency and, secondly, by either buying green power or generating renewable energy themselves. And I would remind all members—and I know that you, Madam Assistant Speaker, know—that Sustainable House Day in September is a great opportunity to look at these houses. The Green Building Council in Canberra has—(Time expired)
MS PORTER (Ginninderra) (4.12): I am pleased to speak today on this matter of sustainable planning in the ACT. Transport for Canberra and the ACT planning strategy establish a pathway towards a more sustainable Canberra, with greater accessibility, higher productivity, better social inclusion and lower greenhouse gas emissions. As we know, how far and how often and how we choose to travel have a big impact on greenhouse gas emissions, as well as an impact on productivity, the community’s ability to participate in the life of the city and our health. Transport accounts for around 22 per cent of the territory’s greenhouse gas emissions.
The transport for Canberra policy released last week is an important planning policy and details two important ways to reduce transport sector emissions: firstly, choose more efficient ways to travel, by shifting to public transport, walking or cycling, and reduce how far or how often we travel and share our trip with other people, in other words, carpooling; and, secondly, choose more efficient vehicles to travel in, by increasing our uptake of electric and other low-emission vehicles and by investigating light rail and continuing our current program to bring lower emission buses into the ACTION fleet.
Choosing more efficient ways to travel requires big changes in the way we plan for Canberra’s future. Our planning can help more people live and work within their local district, reducing the distances they need to travel and associated greenhouse gas emissions, and making the healthiest mode, active travelling—that is, walking and cycling—an easier travel option.
Our planning framework is detailed in the ACT planning strategy and transport for Canberra. It will build on Canberra’s multi-centred structure to help plan for and create a more sustainable Canberra. Already our local group and town centres in each of Canberra’s five districts collectively offer a wide variety of shops and amenities that reduce the need to travel long distances for everyday purposes. As a result, 40 per cent of Canberrans travel less than 10 kilometres to work. This distance can be easily cycled in half an hour. Already the transformation of our inner suburbs around Canberra city has seen the numbers of people walking to work increase. Some inner suburbs like Turner had about 30 per cent of people walking to work in 2006, and this is expected to have increased when the 2011 census data is released.
Transport for Canberra and the ACT planning strategy aim to create more compact, sensitively designed residential and commercial development around the centres, with more employment in the town centres and development along the frequent network. This will help more people live closer to the centres, within walking and cycling distance, or a quick public transport ride away. Buses will be able to travel full in all directions throughout the day. We already see this sort of travel pattern between
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