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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 12 Hansard (12 November) . . Page.. 4045 ..

MR WHITECROSS (continuing):

Then there is the introduction of more frequent daytime services, which, I remind members, Roger Graham said could be introduced at no cost for off-peak daytime services. How much time do you want to think about that? What has the Minister done to implement that recommendation? Nothing. But he says that they will. The reality is that the Minister is, once again, asking us all to believe that he is going to do something when, in fact, he has done nothing. If moving this motion achieves nothing else but getting the Minister off his backside and actually starting to do something to improve the public transport system, it will have achieved its effect, because the Minister certainly has not done anything yet.

Let me pick up on one other thing the Minister said which I think ought to be of concern to members who actually are concerned about having a better public transport system, that is, that the Minister still seems to be carrying around with him the same tired old ideas that got the Government into the mess they are in in the first place. The same tired old ideas like cutting a bus service if we see that there are not enough customers on it, just like we cut the services over Christmas, just like we reduced the frequency of services from the suburbs, just like we do not run services on public holidays, and just like we cut out the night services.

The Government did all those things because they did not think there were enough passengers on them. What does Graham say? Graham says that it is wrong to do that, because if you do that you discourage people from using the buses. Those customers you lose because they cannot catch a bus for three weeks over Christmas make other arrangements and never come back. The problem with the attitude of the Minister is that it is budget driven, it is cost driven. He is not interested in providing a decent public transport system. He is just interested in saving his money, just like his predecessor - the same tired old ideas we have seen before.

In conclusion, let me say this: Public transport is important. It is fundamental to the effective running of a city like Canberra. It is integral to the planning of Canberra that there be an effective public transport system to move people around the city. It is not a city just for cars; it is a city for everybody - car users and public transport users. If we really care about having a well run city, we will be trying to make the public transport system more effective, more efficient and more productive. We should be trying to get rid of the tired old ideas we are getting from Mr Kaine about cancelling a service if we think that we can save a bit of money. We should start getting into some new ideas about how we are actually going to encourage the patrons back onto the buses. Labor's record was one of maintaining bus patronage. The Liberals' record is one of a 25 per cent cut.

Motion, as amended, agreed to.

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