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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 6 Hansard (17 June) . . Page.. 1667 ..

MRS CARNELL (Chief Minister) (4.12): Mr Speaker, for a side of politics that withdrew from ACTION $10m over three years to get up and sound holier than thou about this Government's approach to ACTION is simply ridiculous. Those opposite, when in government last, withdrew $10m over three years.

Mr Hird: That is a fact.

MRS CARNELL: As Mr Hird says, that is a fact. The thing we on this side of the house are very pleased about is that Mr Whitecross has totally supported this report.

Mr Whitecross: I did not say that.

MRS CARNELL: Mr Whitecross, do you support this report? Do you support what you referred to as the improvements that this report puts in place?

Mr Whitecross: You are speaking.

MRS CARNELL: It seems to me that Mr Whitecross does support this report. He said that no-one could believe that this side of the house will implement the improvements that are in this report. I have to say that this side of the house will implement the improvements, to use Mr Whitecross's words, that are in this report. I am very pleased to hear that those opposite do support this very good report put forward by Roger Graham and Associates. We believe that it highlights a number of the problems that exist in the ACTION bus service. The sort of thing that has been highlighted in this report and that this Government will change is the interchange system. The interchange system is something that we inherited from the previous Government, and I think they inherited it from the Government before that, and so on it went. It seems from the work that Roger Graham and Associates have done that the interchange system is not popular. I am very impressed that those opposite support moving away from an interchange system to, wherever possible, a through-service system so that people can get on a bus and stay on it.

I am very pleased also that those opposite support moving to a fare structure that better reflects the actual distance that people travel rather than a fare structure that is the same regardless of how far you travel. Again, the present structure is something that this Government inherited from the previous Government, and I imagine they inherited it from the Alliance and the Alliance inherited it from the initial Labor Government. But is it not good that finally a government has decided to look at ways in which we can change that system to a system that more appropriately reflects the requirements of the community?

Mr Speaker, is it not good that finally we have in front of us a report that shows us categorically that mini-buses are the way to go on a number of routes in the ACT? This has been patently obvious to everybody for a very long time and has been a policy of this Government for a long time, but it was never implemented by those opposite. When they were in government, they removed from ACTION $10m over three years. They did not fix up the interchange problem, did not fix up the fare structures and did not introduce mini-buses; but they can be enormously holier than thou.

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