Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
transformation of centres suggested above will not happen unless it is simul-
taneously part of a re-building and improvement of sustainable transport
infrastructure. The new Subiaco Centre in Perth, which features dense
mixed-use development around a railway station, is being seen as a model of
how to build a 'Transit City' centre (Newman 2001). However, this would
never have been able to attract financial investment by the private sector
unless it had been associated with the upgraded rail service from Perth to
Fremantle and the Federal ALP Government's 'Better Cities' plan which
helped to fund the redevelopment of the train station precinct. The resulting
area has been laced with bikeways and footpaths, and with dense apartments
selling off the plan around the station there has been a 100 per cent increase
in patronage of the station. Such stories are common when 'Better Cities'
projects are examined across Australia.
Such a model of public-private partnership has not been evident in Aus-
tralian cities since the demise of the 'Better Cities' program and the complete
abrogation of any Federal Government leadership for sustainability in our
cities. Yet it is also necessary to say that at no stage in the past 50 years of
Federal Government has transport funding been focused on anything other
than promoting car dependence. 'Better Cities' was in fact a Housing initia-
tive. The data on funding for transport from the Federal Government
between 1975 and 1998 was:
•
$42b Roads
•
$1.2b Rail
•
$1.3b Urban Public Transport.
The case for a better balance in funding towards more sustainable modes
has many rationales. Laird
et al.
(2001) show that there is a 'road deficit' in
Australia due to the excessive bias towards cars and trucks (Table 9.1).
The other rationale for a change in funding is the issue of oil vulnerabil-
ity. The global oil production peak is either near or has already passed
(Campbell 2003). The end of the age of oil is upon us. For Australian cities
and transport systems there is an urgent need to move towards a rapid tran-
sition into greater use of gas and renewable fuels. However, it will not be sus-
tainable or possible without significant reductions in car dependence as part
of the transition. This is the most important policy transition to make that
can assist the world to be less dominated by terrorism as oil politics lies at
the heart of many of these global disputes (Heinberg 2003).
