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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1998 Week 7 Hansard (23 September) . . Page.. 2078 ..

MR STEFANIAK: I do not know who put it there. Maybe it was the organisers themselves. I note that the event is not necessarily not continuing. I have already indicated that my understanding is that the futsal component of the event is continuing. I have not heard that the organisers have actually ruled out the program definitely going ahead.

MS TUCKER: My question is to Mr Smyth as Minister for Urban Services. I have had quite a number of calls to my office and been contacted by constituents with concerns about traffic issues in Ainslie, particularly on Ebden Street, Officer Crescent and Cowper Street. I have put a question on notice to Mr Smyth about this issue, but I would like to follow it up today. Does the Minister actually have some kind of monitoring occurring at the moment of the increased traffic on these streets? Will he give a guarantee that the first stage of the recommendations for traffic calming measures for this area will be included in the next capital works program?

MR SMYTH: Mr Speaker, I thank the member for her question. I am not sure whether we continually monitor traffic on these streets. We have monitoring programs that look at areas specifically across the ACT, as required. We have had much correspondence on it, including yours. Indeed, Mr Moore has also sent us some, as have others, including constituents who are interested in the future of their streets. As to whether we monitor it all the time, I cannot tell you, but I will find out. We will continue to look at the traffic situation in the northern suburbs. It is not just Ainslie; it is across in Lyneham and O'Connor. There are issues there that need to be addressed. Some measures have been identified for Ainslie and Dickson and they will be considered in the draft budget for 1999-2000.

MS TUCKER: I have a supplementary question. Given that the residents of Ainslie were under the impression that it would be in this year's capital works budget, my question still is: Can you guarantee that you will address this serious issue in the next capital works budget?

MR SMYTH: Mr Speaker, it will be considered by Cabinet with regard to all other submissions as well. We are certainly keen to ensure the amenity of the suburbs and that we get it right in terms of making traffic flows work effectively. It is a very curious question. Mr Osborne, I think, still has something on the notice paper about Vansittart Street and traffic calming measures. We will look at it and it will be included in the bids for the 1999-2000 budget. We will have to see whether it gets up.

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