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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 6 Hansard (18 June) . . Page.. 1726 ..

MRS CARNELL (Chief Minister) (11.37): Mr Speaker, I think it is important to get back to what this motion is about. It is not about corporatisation or privatisation of ACTION; it is about an amazing situation where those opposite seem to believe that buses should drive past people who are waiting for a bus.

Mr Humphries: And leave them there.

MRS CARNELL: And leave them there. What those opposite want to happen is for somebody at Macquarie Hostel, on the route of one of the Deane's buses, who is interested in catching a bus, to stand there and wait, potentially for another half-hour or whatever over a weekend, for an ACTION bus rather than hop on a Deane's bus. This is the Yes, Minister approach to buses: Buses are a lot easier to run if you do not pick up passengers.

Mr Berry: You do not understand how buses operate.

MRS CARNELL: Mr Berry is making a comment there. Mr Berry had the same Yes, Minister approach to hospitals. He did not know how many patients he was treating, Mr Speaker. He did not have a clue.

Mr Berry: No; I said Mrs Carnell was a wacko.

MR SPEAKER: You should not be interjecting anyway.

MRS CARNELL: I think he should withdraw that, too.

MR SPEAKER: I think that probably is a bit provocative.

Mr Berry: I withdraw that.

MRS CARNELL: That is fine. I really do not mind. What we have is Mr Berry, the person who did not know how many patients he was looking after, the person who had all these phantom patients floating around his hospital, making comments about this situation.

It is important for us all to understand exactly what this proposal is. I think people may have lost sight of it. The department has entered into a memorandum of understanding with Deane's to trial for two months, as set out in the MOU, picking up and setting down passengers in the ACT on the routes it is already going down. Deane's will be permitted to pick up and set down passengers on all stops on route 830 from Queanbeyan to Civic and route 831 from Queanbeyan to Woden on weekends only.

This is a pilot only; it will operate for two months. Deane's are allowed to pick up passengers they would otherwise drive past. Those opposite seem to think it is a much better deal for them to drive past them. For the life of me, I cannot understand why it improves the service for the travelling public in the ACT to be driven past by a Deane's bus rather than be picked up by the bus, which is already going down that path.

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