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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1998 Week 2 Hansard (20 May) . . Page.. 386 ..

Mr Humphries: Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

MR SMYTH: Absolutely. As the Minister says, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. I guess that we should be really flattered. Mr Hargreaves's motion should not be allowed to detract from the good outcomes that this review will bring. One of the outcomes of this review will be the provision of shorter school routes and therefore less travelling time. The travelling time is always a concern to all parents. None of us want to see our children out there on the buses for any longer than they need to be. Hopefully, what the review will bring is increased patronage to both the school routes, because we are meeting needs, and other routes, by making the school services more attractive. It will allow ACTION to operate more effectively.

The review will use the wide-ranging information gathered through recent community consultation - and, indeed, through existing consultation methods - to ensure that we meet the needs of our school commuters. The review will also take into consideration the new general services network, which will be introduced later this year.

Probably the only way in which we differ is that Mr Hargreaves does not want this review finished until the end of term 4. We will ensure that the review is finished by the end of term 3, so that we can go out and ask the community whether it meets their needs. If Mr Hargreaves's review were completed by the end of fourth term, how would Mr Hargreaves's review get an opportunity to go back to the community to find out whether we had met their needs? It could not do that because the people would all be on school holidays.

Schools will continue to have direct contact with ACTION. I know very well that the liaison officers are out there, and I think most members here would be aware of that. The problem with the start of this year is that, as with any start to a school year, schools often have only indicative numbers of students that will be attending, and often the addresses of those students are unknown. Therefore, at every start of the school year there is some finetuning. It happened to the bus that my kids travel on and I know that it happened to several others. But ACTION works very closely with the schools to ensure that any problems that appear are rectified as quickly as they can be.

Yesterday I spoke to Guy Thurston, the head of ACTION, and he confirmed that the review of school bus services is under way. We are looking at that now. But you knew that this was coming. Congratulating your colleague on calling for something that is already going to happen and that he knew was going to happen is very shallow at the least. He has said that ACTION will be putting all available resources into looking at school services from scratch. The logical progression of overhauling our bus routes is to tailor them to meet people's needs. I understand Mr Hargreaves was told that the school review would be as detailed as plotting each child on a map to ensure that we meet his or her need and that we tailor our services the best way that we can. What is more, Mr Thurston again confirmed that he outlined this approach to Mr Hargreaves during the briefing he gave him. So Mr Hargreaves knew this was exactly what we were going to do. What can I say, Mr Hargreaves? Thank you for supporting the Government's plan.

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