| |
|
|
 |
News
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
 |
| Article Details
|
|
 |
|
 |
| |
Securing the future of Australia’s major cities – a call for leadership and action
The Lord Mayors and Mayors of Australia’s major cities will meet in Canberra today to deliver a position paper to the Federal Government outlining actions to secure the productive, sustainable and liveable future of their cities.
The paper Towards a City Strategy aims to inform the development of the Federal Government’s national urban policy, calling for the establishment of a new Major Cities Program to deliver targeted urban renewal, underpinned by systemic improvements in land and infrastructure planning.
The paper is an initiative of the Council of Capital City Lord Mayors (CCCLM) together with the Major Cities partners Newcastle, Wollongong, Geelong and the Gold Coast councils.
“Australia is facing serious challenges of climate change and a growing and ageing population. Our major cities are at the forefront of facing these challenges,” said CCCLM Chair Graeme Sawyer, Lord Mayor of Darwin.
“Our cities are Australia’s international gateway, economic and population hubs; we need to ensure they are future ready. How well our cities fare in managing change and accommodating growth will be a litmus test for the rest of Australia.”
Co-Chair of the CCCLM’s Major Cities Working Group and Lord Mayor of Newcastle John Tate said the cities supported ongoing, targeted involvement by the Federal Government.
“We are calling for the establishment of a new era of building for our major cities. We need a new version of the ‘Better Cities’ program, one which formally includes local government as a partner and delivers the changes our cities need.
“Our cities can accommodate a bigger population; this can be done without impacting the vast majority of our suburbs. This will require greater density in some areas, but it must be sustainable.
“We need to take advantage of new technologies and clever design to reduce our ecological footprint and focus on building strong, accessible and inclusive communities.
“Coordinated planning, investment and community engagement is needed to help us unlock and activate those parts of our cities where growth will be housed. We need the right process in place to make sure we get the right outcome; vibrant, prosperous and inclusive neighbourhoods.”
Towards a City Strategy also calls for systemic reform to better integrate planning for land use, settlement and climate adaptation.
“In recent months the Federal Government has stepped in to work to improve the long term strategic planning of Australia’s capital cities. We’d like to see this involvement made ongoing and expanded to Australia’s major cities,” said CCCLM Chair Graeme Sawyer.
“Robust planning processes need to be established to make sure growth is well informed, coordinated and managed. A Spatial Report should be developed that builds on the work of the Intergenerational Report to identify the land and infrastructure impacts associated with population and climate change.
“It is important that these processes are not a one off. They need to be embedded; they still need to be occurring a decade from now. That’s an important legacy the Federal Government should leave our major cities.
“We look forward to continuing to work with the Federal Government as it develops its national urban policy. Our position paper marks an important step towards this process,” Mr Sawyer said.
City Media Officer Spokesperson
City of Darwin Gary Haslett (08) 8930 0516 Lord Mayor Graeme Sawyer 0411 881 378
City of Newcastle Nicole Masson (02) 4974 2264 Lord Mayor John Tate 0407 017 154
CCCLM Deborah Wilkinson 0433 096 450 Cheryl Thomas, Executive Director 0433 781 925
Return
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|