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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 12 Hansard (12 November) . . Page.. 3998 ..

MR CORBELL (continuing):

In June 1995, fares went up by 27 to 30 per cent. In September 1995, $12m was cut from ACTION's budget. In October 1995, Minister - listen to this as you are walking out the door - a report identified high levels of customer dissatisfaction with ACTION services. So, what did the Government do? In December 1995, they introduced the holiday timetable. They introduced that one timetable which perhaps more than any other has driven people away from ACTION. Whilst this Government thinks that everyone stays on holiday until the middle of January, or perhaps even later, the reality is that people go back to work maybe one week after Christmas, and they have to rely on a holiday timetable. That is what this Government did in response to a report identifying high dissatisfaction with ACTION services.

Mr Speaker, in April 1996, services were cut by up to 30 per cent in some areas and 10 per cent across Canberra. In June 1996, fares went up again, by 21 to 28 per cent. In October 1996, figures revealed that ACTION patronage had dropped by 13 per cent. What a surprise, when all you do is introduce a holiday timetable which makes it harder for people to catch a bus and get to work, and increase fare levels. In December 1996, again we had the chaos caused by holiday timetables. In January 1997, there was a further reduction of services with the release of Bus Book `97, which, I have to say, Mr Speaker, was so full of inconsistencies as to make it completely unreliable and to further drive people away from using public transport. That is the history of this Government before Mr Kaine became Minister. My colleague Mr Whitecross has already outlined all of the failures of the existing Minister for Urban Services in relation to ACTION; but we must not forget the activities and the actions of this Government prior to Mr Kaine becoming Minister.

Mr Speaker, the last issue I want to raise is services for people in a newly developing area of Canberra - Gungahlin. I am the only member of this place who lives in the newly growing Gungahlin area, and I have taken a close personal interest in the delivery of bus services to people in that area. Mr Speaker, there are three suburbs in Gungahlin where, if you want to go to Civic, you have to go via Belconnen - you pay twice if you go via Belconnen - or you have to catch a commuter bus, limited as that service is, which is also double fare.

Mr Kaine stood up in this place and said, "I heard from the Gungahlin Community Council. They came and saw me, and I am responding to their demands". Mr Speaker, they went and saw him as a result of an appointment I made with him to go and see him with them. I am their local member, and I was doing my job in representing the concerns of my constituency. (Extension of time granted) Six hundred residents in those three suburbs alone - Amaroo, Ngunnawal and Nicholls - signed a petition, presented in this place by me, indicating that the services from their suburbs to Civic were inadequate. If you live in Palmerston you can catch a bus directly to Civic at any time of the day. If you live in Ngunnawal, Amaroo or Nicholls, you have to catch two buses and you have to pay twice; or you have to catch a commuter service bus, and again you have to pay twice. That is grossly unfair.

Is it any wonder that people in a growing area like Gungahlin, where ACTION should be focusing its attention on increasing demand from customers, do not catch the bus? Is it any wonder that we have this raging debate about transport in the Inner North, and particularly links to Gungahlin, when we have a completely ineffective bus service?

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