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our Minister - The Hon. Paul Gerard Lynch, MP
Developing a Sustainability Charter for Australia
Key comments made in this submission
The Disability Council of NSW urges the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Environment and Heritage to adopt a more holistic, multi-dimensional view of sustainability, which includes but is not limited to ecological, environmental and energy concerns.
We acknowledge that environmental sustainability is critically important to discussion about what makes for a sustainable city. It is not, however, the only important sustainability issue that we must consider.
In our view, cities become sustainable only when the people who live in them feel included in the ebb and flow of city life and enabled to participate in city living on more or less the same basis as one another.
The changing demographic profile of the Australian population requires us to re-consider how cities in the 21st Century can become sustainable living places for everyone.
More than 20% of the population of Australia will live with disability in the nation's 21st Century cities. More than one-quarter of the population will be 65 years of age or older.
We ask the Inquiry to respond creatively to those challenges as we seek to renew our common understanding of what Australia aspires to achieve through "sustainability".
Conclusion
The OECD Public Governance and Territorial Development Directorate (GOV), focuses on the governance aspect of sustainable development, i.e. institutions, policymaking and participation of citizens.
It is Council's view that participation by citizens in moulding such policies is essential.
The sustainability issues that, in our view, must become our goals for the next 20 years are to:
- rebuild communities by replacing sprawl with compact, human scale urban fabric;
- recognize and combat the negative impact of our built environment on physical, social and mental health;
- rethink planning and urban design decisions from the point of view of making our cities more liveable for children, people with disability, diverse cultures and older Australians;
- build multifunctional town squares that, like the ancient Greek agora or medieval marketplace, are capable of regenerating civic engagement and democratic participation;
- ensure an affordable housing market in our major cities;
- reduce distances between places of work, leisure and homes and ensure the path of travel between these points is barrier free;
- develop participatory mechanisms to include all people in decisions about how these cities are designed.
These issues must be resolved in the next twenty years if we are to rebuild our cities so that they regain communities that are socially sustainable.
We take the view that a sustainability Charter must address both the needs and milestones for an ecologically sustainable future and government directions to build a sociably sustainable environment. This second task will require a greater degree of cooperation across government and industry. It requires us to educate and invigorate people to join the debate in planning their cities' futures. Finally we must agree and use helpful indicators and measures of sustainable and inclusive design against which progress towards a future unlimited by design may be assessed.
Disability Council of NSW
8th May 2006
