Thread by @TimWattsMP

Last night @Katie_Footscray, @VotedDarling, and I co-hosted a forum for parents and school communities to discuss how we can get more children to ride to school in Melbourne’s West.

I want to thank last night’s speakers Prof Rosemary Calder from the Australian Health Policy Collaboration, Dr Jan Garrard from Deakin Uni, Harry Barber, the former CEO of @bicycle_network &Dr John Symons, President of BikeWest, for sharing their knowledge and expertise with us.

We heard that 70% of children & 90% of young Aussies are not doing enough physical activity each day. We also heard that reversing declining rates of active transport (walking, riding, scooting) to school is the single best thing we can do to combat this trend.

We heard about the barriers to increasing the use of active transport to get to school - access to safe and enjoyable routes to school, parental perceptions & in socio-economically disadvantaged areas, access to bicycles and to someone who can teach children how to ride.

The Andrews government's investments in the Hansen Reserve bike park and the Footscray Community Bike Shed are welcome initiatives in this regard.

We also talked about what other cities in Australia and around the world are doing to improve cycle to school rates and what we can learn from them in Melbourne's West.

starweekly.com.au/news/west-foot…

It was fantastic to see the commitment from all three levels of government to make cycling safe for our kids a priority in Melbourne’s West - it was just the start of what needs to be an ongoing conversation.