Living Streets Canberra in national call for how to decarbonise Australia’s transport

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12 July 2024

Working with diverse friends can be powerful!

A national coalition of 56 transport, climate, environment, union, religious, health and social sector organisations has joined together in a joint statement show how to decarbonise Australia’s transport sector, set critical targets to cut pollution, shift to public, shared and active transport and accelerate the shift to energy efficient transport.

Collectively, Living Streets Canberra and the other groups represent over 2.3 million individuals and hundreds of other member organisations.

The joint statement says that the decarbonisation plan must set strong targets to cut pollution in a fair, fast and inclusive way; shift to public, shared and active transport; and accelerate electrification. It outlines a vision for the sector and how to get there, and shows the broad spectrum of support for a transport system that is free of fossil fuels, affordable, equitable, safe, accessible, resilient and reliable. Climate Action Network Australia coordinated drafting and signing of the document.

The signed statement was released today and sent to Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Catherine King; the Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Chris Bowen; and senior officials in the Government’s Net Zero Unit. It was submitted as part of the consultation currently under way on the Transport and Infrastructure Net Zero Roadmap. There are lots of ways to have your say (including a survey) before consultation ends on 26 July 2024. Make sure you have your say, even if it’s just one thing!

We are currently working on separate submissions to propose actions and policies to boost walking* and other active mobility for transport across the country as one of the most cost-effective, rapid and equitable ways to shift more of our daily, local trips to cycling as part of Australia’s transition to Net Zero and National Urban Policy.

Because every journey involves some walking,* these submissions will represent the interests of everyone who lives in or visits Australia. In April 2024 this is over 26.7 million residents and 7.8 million visitors per year – a total of over 34.5 million people!

This work is part of a busy season for policy development at both Territory and Commonwealth level – as well as for the upcoming ACT election. Since mid May 2024 we have already made seven other submissions on matters that will affect our urban areas for at least many decades to come. These include:

Living Streets Canberra continues its longer-term work for walking* to be (and feel) safe, accessible, comfortable and convenient for everyone, This includes developing a policy platform to put to all candidates and parties ahead of the ACT election in October, and initiating coordinated approaches to walking* advocacy at both ACT and national levels.

* When we use the term ‘walking’, we include any form of human-powered mobility that is not a bicycle: walking; using a wheelchair or other personal mobility device, including those with motors that can travel up to 10 km/h); pushing a pram; wheeling luggage; riding a scooter, skateboard, tricycle or roller-blades.