Bike Sheds in Parliament
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We know that bike sheds are essential to get more students riding more often. We know that schools want bike sheds. And now, Members of the Victorian Parliament are also asking that bike sheds be a priority. Judith Graley MP spoke to the House about bike sheds on 8 August 2007. This extract is from Hansard.
PARLIAMENT OF
LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY
DAILY HANSARD
Wednesday, 8 August 2007
page 99
Schools: bicycle sheds
Ms GRALEY
(Narre Warren South) — I rise to raise the issue of the allocation of funding for bike sheds in schools within my electorate. I ask the Minister for Sport, Recreation and Youth Affairs to take action to provide funding for bike sheds in school grounds in my community. Members of this house are no doubt aware of the need to increase involvement in exercise and sport by the whole of our community. Nowhere is this more evident and important than among our school-aged population, where unfortunately obesity has become a problem of epidemic proportions.
Statistics tell us that one in four of
Clinical evidence underlines the need to schedule regular exercise into the daily lives of our children — this also applies to adults — partly to keep them healthy now and partly to instil in them lifelong good exercising habits to keep them fit in their adult years.
One way of incorporating some exercise into a student’s daily routine is to ensure they are active whilst travelling to school rather than passively sitting in mum or dad’s car. That is why initiatives of this government like the walking school bus program and other similar activities have been so vital in improving the wellbeing of our children.
For students who live a reasonable distance from their school, another very important alternative is for them to cycle, just like we used to do. This is a very cheap form of transport. It is also safe when students practice the necessary safety measures, such as observing the highway code, wearing the necessary protective helmet and wearing clothing that makes them highly visible to traffic coming from any direction. In the Narre Warren South electorate we have recently opened the Road Safety Education Centre, where students from my electorate are able to go to get bike education.
Another advantage of school students cycling is that the number of cars on the roads can be reduced. Traffic around most schools at pick-up and drop-off times is very busy. Fewer cars would mean easier traffic flow for cars still on the roads, and fewer journeys for parents would cut down wear and tear on vehicles, to say nothing of the very important saving in petrol and environmental costs.
As members of this house are well aware, my electorate is a fast-growing area, and there are lots of new houses being built. Since the abolition of the public transport zone 3, people have taken to catching the train. Just as we are trying to build new car parks around train stations, in the same way we are trying to support and encourage students to ride their bikes to school and are providing them with shelter for their bikes. I am well aware of the financial — — (time expired)
