My adjournment matter this evening is for the Minister for Public Transport, and it is in relation to public transport availability in Geelong’s new suburb, Armstrong Creek. At the beginning of August current and potential landowners in Armstrong Creek were informed by the member for South Barwon in the Assembly, Andrew Katos, that they will not have access to bus services when they move into their homes. Mr Katos indicated that bus services would be made available after the first stage of development has been completed. I simply do not think this is good enough.
Appropriate public transport connections must be available right from the beginning to foster sustainable living at Armstrong Creek and to ensure connectivity.
To do otherwise is to deny the community the ability to form habits and routines that are in keeping with sustainable living in Armstrong Creek and to undermine the very essence of why we created Armstrong Creek in the first place. With no access to bus services, families in Armstrong Creek will be fully reliant on their cars for travel to work and school. This means mums and dads must drive their children to and from school each day as well as having to drive to their workplaces and find parking spaces there. For those residents commuting to Melbourne by train, the lack of bus services means they must drive to Marshall, South Geelong or the Geelong main station to park at one of the stations, which have limited spaces.
Armstrong Creek has been designed as a sustainable development, yet there is nothing sustainable about the decision to deny its residents access to public transport.
I want to bring to the minister’s attention a report by Sustainability Victoria called A Compelling Business Case for Sustainable Development, which, under the heading ‘Public transport initiatives to create a greener, healthier lifestyle’, states:
“A key objective for the Armstrong Creek development is to maximise the use of —
public —
… transport by providing good public transport options …”
It also states:
“In order to achieve the accelerated rate for land sales and house construction and settlement, it is essential that an effective public transport service be available from the commencement of the development.”
I ask the minister to read this report and provide all the residents of Armstrong Creek, from the very first resident who moves in to the very last, access to a bus service and to other forms of public transport.