Page 613 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 4 July 1989
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MR COLLAERY: I have a supplementary question, Mr Speaker. In respect of the Minister's reply, will he confirm that he met on that date with a director of Wollongong Constructions?
MR WHALAN: Mr Speaker, I would have to refer to my diary, as 24 April is quite a long time ago. I do not dispute the fact. I have met with Geoff Da Deppo, who is a director or one of the directors of Wollongong Constructions, and I have met with John Da Deppo, his brother, on another occasion within that time frame. But I will certainly check the diary, and I will let the member know at question time tomorrow.
Woden Bus Interchange
MR WOOD: Mr Speaker, I direct a question to the Minister for Housing and Urban Services in connection with a small part of her responsibility, the Woden bus interchange, about which a great deal has been said lately. I ask the Minister: Is she satisfied with the physical layout of the interchange, in terms of its ability to afford safety and comfort to its users? Any other information she could give me would be appreciated.
MRS GRASSBY: I thank Mr Wood. When the problem of the Woden interchange was discussed in the newspaper in connection with the Bill that Mr Stefaniak has before the house, I asked ACTION to give me information about it. Its officers went out to the interchange. One of the things that they found was that at one end of the bus station it was very, very dark. This was where the stairwell and the ramp are located. ACTION looked at moving this to the other end, because there is quite a lot of area there where there could be shops, but this would cost quite a bit of money.
I then asked whether there was anything that we could do to either lighten it up or have some protection or maybe organise for the police to be there. Apparently at the very end is an area where there could be police. So, I understand that ACTION offered this to the police for between 6.00 pm and the time of the last bus leaving the bus interchange. I understand the police said no because they could not man it. I find that it is one of the most incredible things; if that is one of our troubled areas and the police have been asked to man it, I cannot understand why it cannot be manned.
It apparently looks straight down the bus interchange and is a good surveillance area. I feel that if there had been a policeman there at times it probably would have deterred people from doing some of the things about which there seem to be complaints. ACTION is looking into it, to see whether there is anything else that we can do about it.
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