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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 7 Hansard (26 June) . . Page.. 2178 ..

MR KAINE (continuing):

Mr Whitecross says, "Do not delay it until after the next election". I have no intention of delaying it until after the next election. I have already said that we will begin to implement corrective action, based on the Graham report, right now. We are not going to wait until after the next election. Mr Whitecross had better stop crowing about that one; it simply is not true. Mr Speaker, as I said, I would prefer to see the Opposition getting on the bandwagon and showing a bit of support for the things that the Government plans to do, rather than trying somehow to prevent from being done these things that will make ACTION a far more effective and efficient service.

MR WHITECROSS (Leader of the Opposition) (12.04): Mr Speaker, I have to rise again because I am so amused by Mr Kaine's remarks. Mr Kaine thinks that I got interested in public transport in Canberra only in February 1997. That coincides with when Mr Kaine became a Minister. If Mr Kaine was in hibernation for two years on the backbench, did not notice my criticisms of ACTION and did not make any criticisms of his own, then that is hardly my fault. I have been totally consistent in my criticism of this Government's agenda of running down ACTION all the way through the life of this Government. If Mr Kaine was asleep, that is not my problem. Far from the Labor Party needing to join with the Government in some sort of bipartisan commitment to having a better public transport system in the ACT, Mr Speaker, it would seem to me that the question that is out there to be answered is: Is the Government going to climb on the bandwagon? The Labor Party and others in this Assembly have been expressing concern about the Government's agenda in relation to public transport for the entire period of this Government. Mr Kaine is the latter-day convert, not the Labor Party.

I reiterate my challenge: If Mr Kaine is serious about improving public transport and he wants the community to believe that he is serious, then, rather than proposing an appropriation which is a continuation of the Government's agenda of cutting $12.7m out of ACTION over three years and reducing the public transport system in Canberra, this is his opportunity to move an amendment to the Appropriation Bill. I cannot do it; I am not a Minister, but he is. This is his opportunity to move an amendment to increase the appropriation to ACTION, to show that he is serious about providing a better service and about implementing the Graham report. He has not responded; he has not risen to the challenge; and he stands to be judged by the community if he does not.

MR KAINE (Minister for Urban Services) (12.06): Mr Speaker, Mr Whitecross must have been invisible over there. It is no wonder he is considered to be such a joke by the community, if that is the best that he can do. I will not rise to his bait. I have just had expert advice on ACTION. Nowhere in that report is it suggested that we should pour more money into ACTION. There are a number of recommendations that the Government will adopt that will lead to ACTION being a better system. It does not include the Labor Party solution of throwing more money at it. We will make it a more efficient and effective service, without throwing more money at it.

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