Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 2 Hansard (28 February) . . Page.. 380 ..

MR BERRY (11.14): Mr Speaker, I am going to be harsher in my criticism of the Government than was Mr Moore.

Mr De Domenico: Surprise, surprise!

MR BERRY: That would indeed come as no surprise to anybody who is even a casual watcher of this place, because we are the only party that did not support the establishment of the Government opposite.

Mr De Domenico: This is Wayne Berry's way of playing politics with a bus lane.

MR BERRY: No; this is a simplistic motion which does not deal with the issues. It might have been a nice little media stunt; but it does not go to treating seriously environmental questions, which I think we have to deal with seriously in this place. Just a little while ago, I think it was in relation to our inquiry into capital works on the Planning and Environment Committee, officials from ACTION, I think it was, were at great pains to describe to us the way in which they were going to reduce running times for their buses by introducing some electronic control of traffic management arrangements - traffic lights and so on. They explained to us in great detail how, if you can reduce the running time of buses on particular routes, you can significantly reduce costs over the year and, as a result, you can also improve patronage because the buses take less time to get from one point to another.

In an environmental sense, of course, that is good on a number of grounds. Firstly, it makes the bus service more efficient and it uses less non-renewable fuels, and we have a situation where more people are encouraged to use buses and fewer people use cars.

Mr De Domenico: There are five of them parked out here with no-one in them. Get rid of those. Put them back on the road. If you are so good, talk to your union mates and get them back on the road.

MR BERRY: Mr De Domenico should sharpen up his industrial relations management, and he would not have the trouble of the breeding buses. That is the problem with this lot over here. It is the issue of industrial relations - - -

MR SPEAKER: Address the motion, Mr Berry.

MR BERRY: I agree with you, Mr Speaker; it is not relevant to this debate, but neither were the interjections. There are some important environmental considerations in this issue that have not been dealt with. Mr Hird has not considered the likelihood of longer running times for buses and the environmental impact of that. He has not considered how the longer running times for buses would affect patronage. They are all questions that have been dealt with over and over again. We have to ensure that we enhance patronage of our bus service as much as possible. That will lead to reduced car usage, and that is better for the environment.

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .