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

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 3 Hansard (8 April) . . Page.. 731 ..

Very Fast Train

MR CORBELL (5.29): I rise on the issue of the very fast train, which was raised in the Assembly earlier today during question time. The Minister for Urban Services, Mr Trevor Kaine, said that he believed that my call for a public inquiry by the Assembly into the impact the very fast train would have on Canberra was completely and totally unnecessary and would, in fact, hold up the development of the very fast train. Mr Kaine has said that I am inexperienced and a new kid on the block. Perhaps Mr Kaine should be aware that, far from being inexperienced and far from being a new kid on the block, I have used the resources of the Assembly quite well and I have discovered that the most recent inquiry undertaken by the ACT Government into a very fast train and its impact on the Canberra community was done in 1990. That was less than two years after the inception of self-government.

In the seven years since that time Canberra has undergone massive change. Our economy is under severe pressure. Unemployment in Canberra is rising, and the role of the national capital has changed substantially. For that reason, I felt it was appropriate that this Assembly look at the issue of a very fast train - not in terms of whether or not it could be built, not in terms of what the technology was about, but in terms of what it meant for our city, what it meant for the people who live here, what it meant for our future for jobs, what it meant for our future for tourism and what it meant for our future economic and social development.

I was very pleased that the chair of the Economic Development and Tourism Committee, Mr Harold Hird, accepted that this inquiry was a good idea and said that he would support it. I was amazed when the Minister today said that he felt it was completely and totally unnecessary. I believe it is necessary. I believe it is important that our city decide whether this thing is going to have an impact on Canberra and, if so, what that impact will be. I think it is wrong to say, "This technology is great. We have to have it, and we will work out what it means for our city later". It is completely unacceptable and yet another example of the poor decision-making by this Government to support the technology but not at the same time to support what it means for our city. That is what this inquiry would be about. I am also very keen to see this inquiry deal with issues such as tourism and employment. I am hoping that this inquiry will allow the ACT Government, and even the Federal and New South Wales governments, to look at what sorts of responses they need to put in place to ensure that any detrimental impact of the train on our city is negated and that positive benefits are accentuated.

For Mr Kaine to suggest that this inquiry will impede the study in some way is completely wrong. I would urge the Government to support the motion - I think it is an important motion - when it is debated on Thursday. It is valuable for our city to have this sort of technology, but it is also valuable to think about what it means and not blindly accept that new technology will bring positive benefits. That is a very silly trick to fall for. It is something that many cultures and many nations have fallen for before. They have blindly accepted technology as a solution to their problems without seriously looking at what it means. I hope that the Minister will rethink his press release and rethink degrading members of this Assembly purely because of their age, which I think is absurd.

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