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In a first for cycling
in this country, the Cycling Promotion Fund (CPF) organised the Active
Transport for Sustainable Cities Dinner in Parliament House Canberra.
The event was extremely well supported with 19 Members of
Parliament, Senators and senior advisors attending, including Cabinet
Secretary Mark Dreyfus QC, Shadow Minister for Health, the Hon Kevin
Andrews and senior advisors to Tony Abbott and Barnaby Joyce.
The CPF, with Government Relations Manager Stephen Hodge as MC,
was able to present unique perspectives on the benefits of increased
cycling from the UK, China, USA and Australia from four international and
national key note speakers we flew in direct from the Asia Pacific Cycle
Congress in Brisbane.
Above: L-R. Hon Kevin Andrews MP, Bernie Ripoll MP,
Margaret Andrews, Peter Bourke, Prof Haixiao Pan, Hon Mark Dreyfus QC
MP, Angela Darnton, Tim Blumenthal, Phillip Darnton, Mark Cridland,
Stephen Hodge, Matt Bazzano.
Above: Bernie Ripoll welcomes guests to the Sustainable
Cities dinner, Hon Kevin Andrews closed the dinner with a gracious
summary and thanks. The dinner provided a platform for
Phillip Darnton, Tim Blumenthal, Prof Haixiao Pan and Mark Cridland to
share international and Australian examples of best practice which
demonstrate the economic and social benefits of providing increased
opportunities for people to ride bicycles with representatives from all
sides of the House.
Phillip
Darnton, the Chair of Cycling England for the last six years, spoke of
the positive outcomes of the small but targeted federal investment in a
comprehensive package of investments that have increased the number of
transport trips by bike where they have been implemented.
His
main message was that with congestion and chronic health issues rapidly
reaching crisis proportions, the UK Government has acknowledged that
investment in cycling is a cost-effective strategy to improve cities and
health Left: Phillip Darnton speaking to guests
 Professor
Haixiao Pan’s talk (University of Tongji, Shanghai) was a fascinating
window into some of the largest and most congested cities in the world.
Incredibly,
the bike is the most efficient mode of transport generally in China and
they have a greater capacity to move people than buses in congested
centres. In Shanghai, a city of some 23 million inhabitants, there are an equal number of trips by bicycle as by public transport.
Right: Stephen Hodge follows up some points with Professor Pan
 Tim
Blumenthal, from Bikes Belong Coalition in the USA, also talked about
the significant progress and potential of more trips being undertaken by
bike there. More than 3,000 bike projects in all 50 states were funded
using federal money last year.
This same money – about $1billion
– would pay for less than 20 miles of new multi-lane highway in a
single city. Bike projects provide ‘tremendous bang for buck’ and with 4
billion bike trips in the USA each year, we think our Parliamentarians
could start to see the range of important benefits for every dollar
spent on cycling.
Above: Tim Blumenthal speaks about the US and cycling
 Finally
Mark Cridland, Associate Director General, Qld Dept of Transport and Main
Roads, talked about the necessity of action to address congestion issues
in one of the fastest growing regions of Australia, SE Qld. He cited
the strong benefits of their investment in making trips by bike and
walking easier and more attractive and its importance for keeping their
cities productive as population levels boom in the coming years.
Right: Mark Cridland from Qld Dept TMR talks about the value of investment in cycling by his department
This
dinner extends the Fund’s ability to provide relevant, productive and
useful dialogue on the benefits of cycling to all parties in federal
Parliament where we have the specific focus of improving policy and
funding outcomes for all of cycling.
To this end, all guests
were also provided with an innovative economic snapshot of Australia’s
Cycling Economy jointly developed with the Australian Bicycle Council
and Major Cities Unit – Dept Infrastructure & Transport.
Industry’s
funding of the CPF has been vital in establishing this innovative and
highly recognised federal advocacy program under the leadership of
Stephen Hodge. For the last three years he has been the only lobbyist
for cycling working exclusively with federal Parliament and key national
transport, health, planning and other non-Government organisations.
The
Sustainable Cities Dinner follows from the first ever parliamentary
speech on the value of supporting bike riding by a member and the Emerging Crisis Summit, continuing the list of extremely successful
opportunities and events leveraged by the CPF.
The dinner was
jointly hosted by Bernie Ripoll MP, Member for Oxley, QLD and the Hon
Kevin Andrews MP, Member for Menzies. Both were delighted with the
quality of the evening’s presentations and have requested that the
Dinner become an annual event, something we agree with!!
The
dinner was also attended by senior local government officials and ALGA
representatives, representatives from some of our large developers and
representatives from the bus and rail industry groups and Heart
Foundation.
A key contribution from Shimano Australia assisted us
with this function and an exclusive arrangement with the Asia Pacific
Cycle Congress facilitated the availability of our international key
note speakers.
Above: L-R Peter Bourke, GM of BIA - CPF, Professor Haixiao Pan, Tim Blumenthal, Phillip Darnton, Mark Cridland, Stephen Hodge. |
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