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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 7 Hansard (24 June) . . Page.. 1976 ..

Mr Moore: November last year.

MR HUMPHRIES: We did that last year by amending our legislation to line up with the Federal legislation so that parties contesting elections at both levels would be able to operate at both levels without having completely different sets of accounting for both levels of operation. But, if I were asked hypothetically whether I would be supportive of $10,000 in the ACT, my hypothetical answer - and that is a personal answer again - would be no.

Mr Whitecross: On a point of order: I know that the Minister has avoided taking a position until he knows the Labor Party's position, so I can put on the record that we will not be supporting the increase - - -

MR SPEAKER: There is no point of order.

Mrs Carnell: I ask that any further questions be placed on the notice paper, Mr Speaker.

MR KAINE: I would like to provide an answer to a question that Ms Tucker asked me last week about taxi rank facilities in Manuka. Ms Tucker's initial question asked me to clarify whether it was the Government's responsibility to provide taxi rank facilities and whether or not we review these facilities from time to time to make sure that they are appropriate and safe. The answer to that original question is yes. The ACT Government is responsible for the installation and maintenance of signs and associated line marking for taxi ranks on public roads; but, of course, that is constrained by the fact that such work is done from the minor works program, and those who are familiar with the budget will know that that is limited to about $350,000 a year in total. The answer to the second part of that question is yes. Officers from my department do maintain constant communication with the management of Aerial Taxis and other interested stakeholders, to review the location, adequacy of supply and safety of taxi ranks. They do that on a fairly regular basis.

The supplementary question asked whether I was aware that the provision of sufficient taxi ranks had become an issue in Manuka and whether I could explain why a request from Aerial Taxis for additional facilities in Manuka was met by the statement that it would be more likely to happen quickly if Aerial Taxis did it themselves and funded it. I was not aware of that, and I had to ask for the details. The fact is that the department did receive a request from Aerial Taxis, on 13 December 1996, seeking improvements to the taxi rank and feeder rank in Manuka. They requested that those works be implemented before Christmas. I note that it was on 13 December that they were asked for it. Of course, at that stage, it simply was not possible to achieve that kind of timetable.

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