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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 9 Hansard (29 August) . . Page.. 2809 ..

MR MOORE (continuing):

This is the promise that people heard, and there was a rather large swing to the Liberals on this sort of promise - on the promise of reasonable, coordinated management of transport. Instead, what we get is a series of Ministers, particularly the Chief Minister, announcing every three months or so, or less, "We are going to have an international freight airport; we are going to have an international airport; we are going to have a very fast train". And so the process goes on. I must tell you, Minister, that I have always thought the notion of an international airport in Canberra is absolute nonsense. There are environmental questions that I believe simply cannot be resolved, and the notion that any number of international flights would come into Canberra, rather than going to a major international airport like Sydney or Melbourne, is silly.

If you were to put up the idea that this would provide the second airport for Sydney instead of the proposal that is current, there may be some sense in entertaining it; but I believe that it is too far from Sydney. So the idea that we will ever have an international passenger airport is just nonsense. The only alternative is an international freight airport, and I have to say that establishing an international freight airport, on the current site of the ACT airport, leaves huge environmental questions to be answered. (Quorum formed)

What has happened to this comprehensive public transport policy? Do the Liberals even know what it means? What it involves is a coordinated approach to transport, and it is that coordinated approach to transport and traffic management that is missing. Mr Speaker, I know that just the other night you were at a meeting of the North Canberra Community Council, where the issue of traffic management throughout North Canberra, with particular reference to traffic from Belconnen to Gungahlin, was discussed, and it was discussed not just in the light of motor traffic and roads but also in the light of possible light rail. These issues should be seen in a coordinated way. Instead, we had one traffic engineer talking specifically about readjusting plans to suit short-term financial needs, instead of understanding a comprehensive picture of traffic management. I think that in itself is an appalling situation.

The other promise we had from the Liberals going into the last election had to do with the development of our main arterial roads, particularly the Federal Highway and the Kings Highway. There have been some improvements in these areas, and I understand that there is some work going ahead, particularly on the Federal Highway. With reference to the Federal Highway, I ask the Minister: Since you are also responsible for issues to do with employment and economic development, how many Canberra businesses are actually involved in that construction? I think you will find that it is pretty close to none and that these big construction jobs are invariably given to larger companies from outside Canberra.

The question is: Does the Government have anything resembling a comprehensive planned strategy for the development of all these facets of transport that integrate and will ensure that ordinary people have the advantages available from being mobile? Liberal Party policy states:

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