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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1998 Week 7 Hansard (23 September) . . Page.. 2067 ..

MS CARNELL (continuing):

Mr Speaker, the editorial goes on about the Graham report and the fact that the Graham report cited both union and management deficiencies; but it does suggest that management has made some efforts. I think we would all agree that since the Graham report this Government has done everything in our power to ensure that the Graham report is implemented. Why was that the case? Because, Mr Speaker, this Assembly directed us to do so. This Assembly, in a motion, told the Government that they wanted the Graham report implemented. Those opposite supported it. So, what did we do? We did implement, but when it comes to the hard decisions, Mr Speaker, those opposite go to water again. That editorial was on 21 June 1997. The final paragraph says:

It is time for the ACT Government to take competition and privatisation off the hidden agenda and put them right up front, even if it is inevitable that some public subsidy remains.

Those opposite have suggested that we are racing into the approach we are taking without due care and without talking to people. Mr Speaker, that editorial was in June 1997. The Canberra Times followed up with an editorial on Saturday, 12 September this year, over 12 months later. The sad bit about the second editorial is that a lot of it is fairly similar. It similarly lacks accolades for the union and for bus drivers. It says:

ACTION bus drivers appear to have priced themselves out of the market. Earlier this month they rejected a new enterprise agreement that had been negotiated over the past 12 months ...

ACTION bus drivers are the costliest in Australia to hire. Labor costs are 19 per cent higher than the average government bus operator and 100 per cent higher than the average private bus operator.

Mr Speaker, it goes on to suggest that the ACT taxpayer is not getting value for the dollar. We all support a public bus system. It is absolutely essential to a decent community. From a government perspective, a public bus system is about providing a service. Who for? For bus drivers? No, Mr Speaker; for the community. The Canberra Times said:

The people of the ACT are getting the poorest public-transport service per dollar in Australia.

I will quote that again:

The people of the ACT are getting the poorest public-transport service per dollar in Australia.

Yet those opposite and Ms Tucker want to support that. They want to support a situation where we are not getting value for the taxpayer dollar by any means. Mr Speaker, I do not believe that is acceptable and this Government, since 1995, has been attempting to overcome those problems. We went down the path of the Graham report - something that this Assembly supported until it ended up with some tough decisions.

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