Sustainable Planning and Transport

Principles

The Australian Greens believe that:

1. oil depletion and climate change make Australia’s present way of life in car-dependent cities and regions unsustainable.
2. in response to climate change and oil depletion, we have an urgent need to reduce reliance on fossil fuels.
3. the ecological impact of Australian settlement is unacceptable and must be reduced.
4. human settlements must be designed and built to minimise environmental harm and maximise social well-being.
5. Australia’s transport system must function on principles of ecological sustainability, equity of access, and public ownership of critical public transport infrastructure.
6. transport planning must give high priority to environmental and social impacts.
7. a high quality national rail network is essential to a modern economy.
8. new urban developments must be environmentally sound, public transport friendly and must facilitate community interaction.
9. future urban planning needs must minimise urban sprawl and promote growth of mixed-use urban villages in rural and regional areas.

Development

Goals

The Australian Greens want:

1. future development that is environmentally sensitive, energy efficient and which ensures equitable access for all Australians.
2. the use of new environmentally sound technologies to minimise ecological impacts.
3. a nationally agreed sustainability charter with targets across all industry sectors.
4. integration of planning and transport.

Measures

The Australian Greens will:

Transport

1. include ecological sustainability as a funding criterion for all federal development and infrastructure programmes.
2. establish a national report card for development targets and building standards to promote Australia's progress towards its ecological sustainability goals.
3. establish a Sustainability Fund to deliver funding to states and local governments to assist with implementing sustainability initiatives.
4. develop national urban planning standards that provide for the location of high density housing and commercial buildings close to high capacity public transport, and the clustering of medium-density housing, community facilities and small-scale businesses around neighbourhood shopping centres.

Goals

The Australian Greens want:

1. a comprehensive, integrated public transport system, with critical components publicly owned and controlled.
2. a transport system, including roads, railways, airways and sea-lanes, that is safe, environmentally sound, efficient and reliable.
3. increased opportunities for the community to participate in transport planning.
4. incentives to favour public transport systems over private car use.
5. public transport services to be provided under community service obligations.
6. public ownership of the national rail system.
7. train services that are competitive with road transport – reliable, safe, fast and inexpensive.
8. major airports located to minimise social and environmental impacts.
9. more cycle ways and footpaths to encourage walking, cycling and public transport use in towns and cities to reduce the need for private car ownership and use.
10. better transport services in rural and regional areas.
11. improved transport services for people with special needs.
12. environmental costs incorporated into the cost of air travel.
13. fair compensation paid to those adversely affected by transport infrastructure development.

Measures

The Australian Greens will:

1. reform the national transport plan and its funding mix to take account of environmental, social and economic goals.
2. work to achieve public ownership of the rail network connecting capital cities, industrial cities and ports.
3. raise the rail network to a standard which enables the operation of fast freight and passenger trains, including between mainland capital cities.
4. eliminate level crossings in urban areas, and ensure the presence of signals on all crossings in rural and regional parts of the national rail network.
5. support compulsory noise and emissions standards for petrol and diesel vehicles which are at least as stringent as European Union standards.
6. adopt enforceable world's best practice fuel efficiency standards of new petrol and diesel cars by 2010.
7. support mandatory fuel efficiency labelling of new vehicles.
8. increase the tariff on imported four-wheel drive vehicles from 5% to 10% except for primary producers.
9. abolish fringe benefits tax breaks for company and leased cars.
10. invest Commonwealth research and development funding in alternative fuels and propulsion systems for public transport.