Page 3633 - Week 11 - Tuesday, 22 November 2022
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
The reality is that the coalition had no conception whatsoever of what that project would actually deliver. There was no suggestion that the funding was to be used to deliver road maintenance or improvements to road safety; there was no suggestion regarding what it was meant to deliver at all.
The ACT government made representations to the previous federal government to use the funding identified for Parkes Way instead. As any commuter from the south would know, the real bottleneck at peak times, particularly in the morning, for drivers from the west and south-west, is Parkes Way. Of course, you enter Parkes Way through Glenloch Interchange, from the Tuggeranong Parkway.
However, this request was denied by the previous government. Instead we agreed in good faith that we would use a small amount of funding to work out what could be done. But we were very clear that we wanted that scope to include other roads, including Parkes Way. That work is currently underway to look at what is possible in the future, to inform future planning.
Our main focus and priority for south side roads investment remains important upgrades to the Monaro Highway, duplicating Athllon Drive and building the John Gorton Drive bridge over the Molonglo. These are the projects that we committed to in our plan for the south side at the election. These projects represent hundreds of millions of dollars of joint investment that will improve connectivity, create jobs, support freight movements and improve road safety outcomes for all Canberrans. There are clear deliverables for each of those projects—clear benefits that have
been identified.
Let us be clear that the south-west corridor project was never an ACT government project. It was an Australian government project. The decision to fund and remove funding from the project was made by the Australian government.
The Australian government’s decision to redirect the remainder of funding to other projects for the time being also reflects the reality that we cannot undertake major upgrades to every single major road from the south side into the city all at the same time as tearing up the Tuggeranong Parkway for no clear reason.
In relation to the Kings Highway corridor project, again, funding was allocated by the commonwealth, and not consulting the ACT government. We have recognised that planning work is still at a very early stage for any future extension of the runway at Canberra airport, which is likely to require the movement of Pialligo Avenue to the south. Pialligo Avenue was in the scope of the Kings Highway corridor, being one of the routes out onto the Kings Highway.
As a result the ACT government is not supportive of funding abortive road upgrades—effectively funding upgrades that then need to be torn up, a matter of years later, in order to undertake further upgrades. That is a waste of taxpayers’ money. That is why we certainly agree that that should not go forward at this point in time. But we are doing some work in the immediate term, using a small amount of funding to undertake design improvements for two sections of Pialligo Avenue, at the intersection of Sutton Road and Oaks Estate Road, and at Brindabella Park.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video