Page 1357 - Week 05 - Thursday, 18 June 2020
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(b) the ACT Government is planting 500 000 trees in Ingledene Forest, creating new recreational areas for Canberrans while sequestering carbon;
(c) in the last two years, Australian Capital Territory Natural Resource Management (hosted by the ACT Government) has planted 17 000 trees and undertaken weed removal on 400 hectares of land; and
(d) that large-scale, poorly-planned expansion of new suburbs across rural and environmental areas of the ACT could see loss of many existing trees; and
(4) calls on the Assembly to support the planting of potentially well in excess of one million trees, as well as the protection of hundreds of thousands of existing trees, by:
(a) supporting the Government’s Living Infrastructure Plan and Climate Change Strategy, which will achieve 30 percent canopy cover by 2045, including a net increase of 450 000 street and park trees;
(b) supporting legislative and planning reform needed for the protection and replacement of existing trees on private land;
(c) supporting the Government’s commitment for 70 percent of new housing to be built within our existing urban footprint, protecting trees and environmental values in our surrounding landscape; and
(d) opposing urban development west of the Murrumbidgee River that would see trees and natural areas destroyed.”.
MS LE COUTEUR (Murrumbidgee) (3.36): The Greens will be supporting the ALP amendment.
Ms Lee: I am shocked.
MS LE COUTEUR: Easily shocked, Ms Lee. I will start by welcoming Mr Coe and his colleagues to the ACT Greens. Members have seen the Liberal branding for the one million trees announcement which features a green colour scheme, and even the traditional blue Liberal logo has turned green. Clearly, this is recognition of the fact that the Liberals want to become a sub-branch of the Greens, the only party that has a true long-term vision for Canberra and the rest of the world. So, Mr Coe and colleagues, thank you. Welcome on board with the trees and the public housing and the homelessness. It is really great to see progress in the Assembly. On a more serious note, because we may still remain separate political parties, I really welcome the Liberals’ interest in trees. I take it as entirely real and serious, rather than a stunt.
The Greens have been trying to get action on trees for many, many years. I can remember in the Seventh Assembly a number of debates with the former Chief Minister, Mr Stanhope, on the subject of trees and the preservation or otherwise of them. Over the last couple of years the ALP has got considerably much more on board, which is great. The better suburbs program may have helped with that, with participatory budgeting and participatory democracy in practice.
Certainly, I am very pleased by the government’s new-found interest in trees. As a result, there has been increased funding for trees and tree planting, the start of a
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