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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 7 Hansard (2 July) . . Page.. 2209 ..

MR SMYTH (continuing):

And then we had the issue of adequate signage and line marking. Again, we are the government that this year put a total of $2.3m into the streetsmart program, being $1.3m for capital works and an additional $1m for recurrent expenditure, because we understand that some of that infrastructure has been getting a bit old and we understand that some of that infrastructure has been damaged by accidents and by vandals. We will make sure that it is replaced as quickly as we can. We have hotlines in the phone book so that people can ring and tell us that signs or lines need replacing and we take notice of them. What we have had here, Mr Speaker, is just a litany of things that Mr Hargreaves thinks are wrong. He speaks a few glib lines and wanders away without any real acknowledgment that much of what he says is already going on. I guess it is easier in opposition simply to ignore.

Mr Speaker, time is getting on and I will be brief. In regard to some of Mr Berry's comments, road safety is a very serious issue. I certainly take it seriously. I think it is quite clear from what I have just said that the Government does take it seriously. We are making sure that we do, at all times, put up the best road system that we can. It is very different from the road system for the rest of Australia. We are very lucky to have the arterial system that we have linking the suburbs. Overall, we do have very low road tolls, but they could be lower still. Last year, 22 died on ACT roads and there have been 11 deaths so far this year - six months - which is very sad. But we have to understand at all times that road safety starts with each of us as individuals and at all times we must be paying attention and making sure that we do the right thing when we are out on the roads.

Mr Speaker, the Urban Services budget has many initiatives for the coming year. We will be getting on with the job of making Canberra a city that we are all proud of. Canberrans obviously like a high standard of city services and we will continue to deliver those. I will seek to get best value for the taxpayers' dollar wherever we spend it and make sure that we do as much as we can with that dollar to maintain the standards that Canberrans expect and deserve. With that, Mr Speaker, I commend the budget to the Assembly.

Proposed expenditure agreed to.

Part 10 - The InTACT Group

Proposed expenditure - The InTACT Group, $17,640,000 (comprising capital injection, $17,640,000)

Proposed expenditure agreed to.

Part 11 - ACT Housing

MR WOOD (7.57): With a proposed expenditure of nil, I could claim that the Minister has done very badly indeed in defending the needs of his agency. I do want to make some criticisms, acknowledging that there are very significant problems with housing. I hear the Minister talk about having an aged housing stock and I have seen many homes that go back to the 1930s, I am sure, for some and the 1940s for others.

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