On Friday 3 October 2003 the Pedestrian Council of Australia is encouraging people to leave their cars at home and instead combine walking and public transport in travelling to and from work.

Walk to Work Day is a national community awareness event which aims to:-

• promote regular walking as a simple, inexpensive physical activity with many health benefits
• promote walking as a form of active transport, especially in combination with using public transport
• reduce the over-reliance on the private motor vehicle, especially for short trips
• improve air quality by reducing unnecessary vehicle emissions.

The theme of this year's event is Make Time to Walk Every Day to encourage people, however busy they are, to make time for regular and brisk walking so that they can enjoy the range of benefits that walking provides.

I am very supportive of Walk to Work Day and its aims and I encourage Ministers, Chief Executive Officers and New South Wales Public Sector employees to participate in the spirit of the event on 3 October 2003.

I would appreciate it if Chief Executive Officers could ensure that information about Walk to Work Day 2003 is distributed amongst all employees in their agencies. Further information about Walk to Work Day is available from the Pedestrian Council of Australia's website www.walk.com.au

Andrew Refshauge
Acting Premier