A national coalition of over 56 leading transport, environment, union, religious, health and social sector agencies joined together to call on the Government to decarbonise the transport sector, set critical targets to cut pollution, shift to public, shared and active transport and accelerate the shift to energy efficient transport.

The joint statement was drafted and signed by 56 groups under the auspices of the Climate Action Network Australia, collectively representing over 2.3million Australians.

The signed statement was sent to Catherine King, Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Chris Bowen, the Minister for Climate Change and Energy and senior officials in the Government’s Net Zero Unit. It was submitted as part of the consultation currently under way on the Net Zero Transport and Infrastructure Roadmap.

A separate submission to the Transport Roadmap on behalf of the bicycle sector, coordinated by WeRide, is being prepared and will propose actions and policies to boost cycling for transport across the country as one of the most cost-effective, rapid and equitable ways to shift more of our daily, local trips to cycling as part of the transition to Net Zero.

It is a busy season for Government policy development with submissions already provided by WeRide to the independent Climate Change Authority, the National Urban Policy consultation, the Inquiry into the Transition to Electric Vehicles and a Pre-Budget Submission in just the last six months.

Along with submissions, WeRide has continued its focus on developing a platform to increase investment in bicycle infrastructure, tariff and tax reform to incentivise use of bikes and e-bikes and planning guidelines to make our urban environments safer and more convenient to ride a bike in.

WeRide has been leading the approach to bring a nationally coordinated approach to bicycle sector advocacy and lobbying through numerous submissions and actions in 2023-24 and is continuing to work to ensure we continue with this unified approach for the upcoming election.

The joint statement is available for download here.