Page 400 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 21 February 1990
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fast train and not at their rural value. I think that we owe it to the community to ensure that it gets full return on what is a community commodity, the ACT land. We do not support land speculation. So I call again on Mr Kaine to make his position clear.
I have said repeatedly that the Labor Party has a policy of in-principle support for the very fast train, but it believes - and I will say it again - that it should not be paid for by the people of the ACT, whether that is in terms of paying for infrastructure costs or by income forgone on the land transfers.
There needs to be a full evaluation, which has yet to be undertaken on this project, of the overall environmental effect of the very fast train. In terms of the natural environment in Canberra, we do not have a detailed environmental impact assessment. At the national level also there needs to be a comprehensive environmental impact assessment. I know that we are all concerned about the ACT environment, but we have to be aware that the very fast train would go well beyond our own concerns. In fact, there are already 60 rare or endangered plant and animal species in the Gippsland area alone which is along the proposed route of the very fast train. So we do need further research. We need further reassurance that those and all other native flora and fauna will be fully protected.
While the protection of the natural environment is crucial in any evaluation of the very fast train proposal, it is of great concern to me that there has been very little evaluation of the impact on the social environment. The report that has been prepared for the Government by Peat Marwick addresses direct economic costs and benefits, and that has been the extent of the Government's paper-in-response as well. But I would ask what the social implications are of Canberra becoming so closely linked to Sydney and Melbourne. Is there a possibility that we will become a dormitory suburb of Sydney, a city of commuters, and what implications might that have for the provision of community services?
I am not the only person asking these questions, Mr Speaker, and I know that had any of the Government members bothered to attend the public meeting at the Reid TAFE a couple of weeks ago, they would have known beyond any shadow of a doubt that those questions are being asked right across the community, by community groups, by pensioners, by environmentalists, by a huge range of groups within the community.
As I said before, there is no doubt that there will be a great many benefits from the very fast train and that we must encourage support for the project. But that support has to be based on a full knowledge and a full understanding of the implications of the project.
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