Page 3499 - Week 08 - Thursday, 23 August 2012
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It leads to all sorts of negative outcomes. It leads to local shops not being developed when they should be, as in Giralang. It leads to inappropriate developments, having density in the wrong places sometimes. For a long time, the only place we would see unit complexes being developed seemed to be in cul-de-sacs in suburban areas instead of people focusing on putting them where they need to be and protecting our suburbs from inappropriate development but allowing the city to grow in the way that it should. The other way that this breakdown in the planning system impacts is through affordability. It impacts on those trying to buy into our market.
That is why these things matter. These are not academic debates. They affect people’s local centres; they affect the look of our city; they affect the sustainable development of our city; and they affect affordability and amenity in our city. These are things that we value very highly.
In the 30 seconds I have left, let me say that we believe that infrastructure planning is a critical part of the reform that needs to take place. Infrastructure planning is one of the economic drivers. By having the right infrastructure, by investing in it and by planning it properly, we bring certainty, we bring more investment, we bring more private sector investment and we protect what it is we love about our city; we help Canberra to continue to be a wonderful place to live well into the future. (Time expired.)
MR RATTENBURY (Molonglo) (11.02): Whilst a number of important environmental measures have been maintained or introduced in this year’s budget, we do feel that there are missed opportunities here to build a more sustainable and prosperous Canberra. It is easy to buy into the mainstream rhetoric that investing in the environment is somehow a burden, peripheral to the main business of a government, when in fact the benefits far outweigh the cost. The benefits of investing in environmental action are not only felt into the future but can be enjoyed today.
Consider the $305 in savings that the government’s new energy efficiency scheme will deliver for average household energy bills; the aesthetic and biodiversity benefits that the inner north wetlands are already contributing to our suburbs; and the cost savings that Canberra families will experience from installing on-site renewable energy. These benefits simply validate the fact that doing good by the environment also does good by the economy and society.
With this in mind, I would like to turn to the substance of the budget and reflect upon some of the key climate and environment issues it raises.
Firstly, I want to focus on climate change. We are pleased to see that the government has expanded its resource management fund from $3 million to $5 million. However, we question whether the new fund is sufficient to achieve government carbon neutrality. There is still no accurate data on whole-of-government resource use, and a number of agencies are yet to develop their required resource management plans. If I sound like a broken record—I am pretty sure I have said this for at least the last couple of years—it is a concern and continues to be the case.
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