26 Feb 2020
The Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) fully endorses the latest edition of Infrastructure Australia’s Priority List released today, welcoming the elevation of critical issues including new High Priority National Initiatives on water, waste and coastal inundation, tied to the central theme of resilience that headlined the 2019 Infrastructure Audit.
GBCA CEO Davina Rooney said Infrastructure Australia had progressed the ambition and foresight demonstrated through the Audit in bringing issues up the list that are fundamental to ensuring the future integrity of Australia’s cities and urban systems.
“The priorities identified today seeking national coordination to manage waste, water security and coastal inundation reflect the importance of planning for the growing risks facing communities across Australia,” Ms Rooney said.
“These newly identified High Priority programs recognise their importance supporting national resilience and in helping provide greater certainty for business and the community that will drive investment and better planning.
“The Green Building Council of Australia has long called for a stronger focus on planning for resilience to support the leadership our members demonstrate through their own developments on the ground in communities around Australia.
“It is very encouraging to see the strong synergies between the priorities Infrastructure Australia has identified and those that we are taking forward with our evolution of our Green Star rating tool through our own Future Focus program.
“Resilient design has long been embedded into Green Star, which is an essential reference point for government and communities as we look to deliver buildings that are better prepared for the challenges of a changing climate.
“We’ve made resilient design an explicit component in the new Green Star for Buildings rating tool. A new standalone ‘Resilience’ category, currently open for consultation, includes credits to improve an asset’s resilience to climate change impacts, and to boost a community’s overall resilience.
“As the Infrastructure Australian Priority List recognises, the built environment has a critical role to play in helping Australia become more resilient in the face of a changing climate. We also need to ensure that buildings make a smaller contribution to climate change with a pathway to net zero.
“The importance of frameworks like Infrastructure Australia’s audit and priority list cannot be understated for their impact in supporting industry leadership on the ground in partnership with government and communities.
“Infrastructure Australia’s work helps drive the investment required to achieve a successful sustainable transformation of our built environment.”
New National High Priority Initiatives supporting resilience nationally include:
· Town and city water security
· National water strategy
· Coastal inundation protection strategy
· National waste and recycling management
The full list is available from Infrastructure Australia’s website at https://www.infrastructureaustralia.gov.au/publications/infrastructure-priority-list-2020