Bernie Ripoll (Oxley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

All members and senators would know that the inaugural Asia-Pacific Cycle Congress, the APCC, will be held in Brisbane from 18 to 21 September 2011. Unfortunately, it is a sitting week, so we will not be to enjoy what the congress will provide. The congress will bring together world experts to discuss issues surrounding cycling and all the benefits it brings. One of the topics of discussion will be active travel. Active travel, not surprisingly, refers to forms of travel that require the participant to be active, such as walking, cycling or taking some other sort of active participation in moving around our community.

Australia is confronted with a number of significant challenges when it comes to transport; climate change, as has been well debated in this place and in the community; the livability of our cities; and public health. In my electorate, which takes in Brisbane and Ipswich, and is one of the fastest growing regions in Australia, concern about the livability of our suburbs and our region and the decreasing quality of life is an issue for many families. Through my role as Chair of the Sustainable Australia Caucus Committee, I have found that Oxley is not alone in these concerns, as these are matters we discuss regularly.

The Infrastructure Australia report State of Australian Cities 2010 has clearly identified the challenges and opportunities of building sustainable cities, and calls for effective and innovative responses. A focus on increasing the use of active travel is vital, as it will address some of the key issues we face, particularly in the areas of maintaining productivity, by reducing congestion and keeping people healthy. Anyone who lives in a major area will understand those issues very well. Active travel will help to get people active again, which will tackle major health issues such as rising obesity, chronic disease and cancer and physical inactivity, which is a major risk factor in itself. In building more choices for active travel into our communities, we can make it part of the way that we build cities, redesign cities or transform cities, and improve their impact on lifestyle, quality of life and value in the place we live. Building the infrastructure for active travel allows people to get to their public transport hubs—not just having the hubs, but being able to get there—and is often a low-cost option for the travel over short distances that is usually done by car. There are plenty of research, data and examples of this.

The health benefits are obvious, but I will put them on the record. One of the greatest public health challenges in Australia is the obesity epidemic. The prevalence of overweight and obese people has been steadily increasing over the past 30 years. I know that everyone in this place is committed to doing more to make a better community. Being active for transport has numerous health benefits not only for the individual but for the community at large, and also for government. Exercising for just 30 minutes a day can reduce the incidence of heart disease by as much as half. This has the potential to save the health system some $1.5 billion per year, just in that one area alone. Simply combining active travel with public transport, such as by a walking trip at either end, has been shown to give people an average of 41 minutes of physical activity per day, against only eight minutes on average for those who drive their own car to and from work. Given the number of hours that people spend in a car, and all that that involves, I encourage people to look at every possibility to take the option of being active in their travel. In our capital cities, 15.3 per cent of commuters travel less than five kilometres. In the rest of the nation that figure is around 28½ per cent. Seventy-one per cent of Australians who live within five kilometres of work drive to work, although there are often many different options for them to get there. These are distances that can easily be cycled or walked and often in the same or even less time than it takes to drive and then park the car—then there is the cost that involves.

The avoidable cost of congestion in capital cities alone is estimated to be over $20 billion by 2020. Road transport is the main source of transport emissions, and emissions from road transport increased by over 27 per cent between 1990 and 2008. Private vehicles accounted for 60 per cent of that total. Offering people healthy, easy alternatives to short trips has the capacity to improve our quality of life, create a better environment, improve our communities and livability and make an enormous difference to where we live. There is clearly a need for more sustainable means of mobility for all Australians, and active transport has the means to do just that. The benefits are clear, and there is no question that everyone in this place is supportive of this congress and supports my comments.

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