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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 3 Hansard (10 April) . . Page.. 852 ..

MS HORODNY (continuing):

instead of by road and by plane. What concerns us, however, is that the supporters of the high speed train idea have also taken on a cargo cult mentality that this train will bring all kinds of benefits to Canberra. It has also brought out in some people a peculiar fascination with new technologies and the belief that the faster the better.

Finding technological fixes to particular problems in our society has its place, but this should not happen in a vacuum. What is just as important to solving a particular problem is understanding and addressing the social and economic contexts in which it occurs. For example, there is an assumption that the high speed train will make it easier for people to come to Canberra from Sydney for business and recreation, but the reverse could well happen. Sydney is a large city of international status with many social and economic attractions in its own right, and we may find that Canberra could become like one large dormitory suburb of Sydney if a high speed train is built.

There are lots of questions about the social and economic impacts of a high speed train that need answers. Would Sydney companies who do business in Canberra want to set up a separate office in Canberra if people can just hop on a train to Canberra when they need a face to face meeting? Would the big theatrical, musical and art shows and sporting events come to Canberra if the organisers knew that it was just as easy to get people to hop on a train to go to an event in Sydney? We already have the Prime Minister living in Sydney and working in Canberra. Will future governments decide that it could be possible for whole government agencies to be based in Sydney if it is easy for officers to travel to Canberra by train for meetings when the need arises?

How many executives and professionals will choose to live in Sydney and have access to a wider range of work and social contacts there, rather than move to small-town Canberra for their job, if they can virtually commute here by high speed train, or, equally, if their clients could just as easily travel to Sydney? Would tourists want to spend more time in Canberra if they could do all its attractions in one day and still be back in Sydney on the high speed train by night-time? Would residents of surrounding New South Wales continue to do their business and major shopping in Canberra when they could get a wider range of services by hopping on the train to Sydney? We hope that this inquiry will provide the answers to these sorts of questions before we go too far down the track with this high speed train. May I move my amendments now?

MR SPEAKER: You will need leave because you are moving two, Ms Horodny; but you may do so now. Seek leave to move them.

MS HORODNY: I ask for leave to move together the amendments circulated in my name.

Leave granted.

MS HORODNY: I move:

(1) Paragraph (1), before "inquire" insert "to assist in the evaluation of the bids for the construction of a very high speed train between Canberra and Sydney,".

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