Blue Ribbon Libs Go Green

BY CHRISTOPHER HARRIS

A Liberal Town Hall would focus on incentivising residents and businesses to embrace a greener future.

According to Lord Mayoral candidate Christine Forster, Sydney needs more emphasis on helping residents and businesses become more sustainable, not just the council.

Clr Forster told City Hub that current Lord Mayor Clover Moore had done a good job with making council itself sustainable, but there was more to be done.

Clr Forster said the council should try to engage residents rather than being a player on the world stage for environmental measures.

Included in the Liberal’s sustainability plan was a move to bring recycling bins to the streets of Sydney.

She said the City needed to provide on street recycling bins and compete with visually cleaner cities such as Singapore and Vancouver.

Second was the bike hire scheme that would encourage tourists to explore the city on bike, as well as providing locals with a transport alternative for short trips.

“I would like to make cycling as least as convenient as taking a taxi,” Clr Forster said.

Clr Forster said the City was not on target to meet its sustainability targets. To this end, she wants to provide rebates to residents who installed solar panels as well as rainwater tanks, as is done in South Australia.

She also said that she wanted to preserve Wentworth Park and that the open space was protected.

UNSW sustainability expert Professor Dr Deo Prasad told City Hub that the council’s efforts and its 2030 vision had positioned the City well in terms of sustainability.

He said Councillor Forster’s ideas for sustainability were all positive but said it was people’s behaviour rather than government in the end that drove the change.

He said providing financial incentives such as rebates can be a powerful motivater, but ultimately it was people who would drive change.

They have laid the foundations for a leading position on sustainability. He said that sustainable bahviour was normally taken up by people incrementally.

He said that the City of Sydney was unique because it had a highest levels of high rise in the country, and this could pose a challenge to sustainable behaviour.

“It is slightly more complex, in a city situation which is dense and high rise.”

But he said the current council had done good work so far on major residential developments.

“Renewable energy strategy alone, exemplar projects like CP and Green Squar,e these are good stories, they use renewable energy and recycled water.”