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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 12 Hansard (6 December) . . Page.. 3745 ..

MR STEFANIAK (continuing):

Mr Snowdon, the member for the Northern Territory, reportedly said that the level of funding in the package for the ACT was a sick joke. What an incredibly stupid statement to make. It is taking Canberra bashing to a ridiculous extreme. I am very disappointed to hear it coming from someone I have always found to be very pleasant and who is a Canberra boy. He is not only a Canberra boy but a Canberra boy who has played rugby, albeit with the Easts club. I could almost accept that a comment like was an aberration if Mr Snowdon had been a back, but he is not a back. I think he played breakaway. He was a forward. It is absolutely amazing.

All jokes aside, Mr Hird is quite right to call on both our Chief Minister and our Leader of the Opposition to write to Mr Beazley seeking an assurance from him that a federal Labor government would treat the ACT on an equitable basis with other states and territories and asking that Mr Snowdon retract his comments. That is very important. There will be a federal election next year, after which Mr Beazley may well be the Prime Minister and administering federal funding.

Mr Snowdon is a reasonably senior member of the federal Labor Party. He has been in parliament for a long time, and I think it is right and proper that his leader indicate to him that he should withdraw these very unfortunate remarks, which smack of Canberra bashing. Canberra bashing is absolutely ludicrous and should be condemned - whether it is done by Liberal members, Labor members, National Party members, One Nation members or anyone else in the federal parliament - as this government has consistently.

I take umbrage at a comment Mr Quinlan made. He had a go at the Minister for Urban Services, Brendan Smyth, for a lack of effort in relation to roads. Mr Hird appropriately pointed out that this government has put a significant package on the table over a number of years. This minister has put $130 million - plus on the table to enhance our road system. Members need to go through the five previous budgets and look at our efforts to maintain and enhance our road system. The minister has done a lot.

This $20 million offered by the federal government will be very useful . Our road system is vital for providing the mobility required in our society and in our economy. We have one of the highest rates of car travel in the country and one of the highest rates of vehicle ownership in Australia. But we must no forget that driving can involve risks. Our road toll for a small territory is too high, especially when one considers our road system.

While we do have good - quality, well - planned roads, driving in Canberra can be deceptive. Our roads often look safer than they actually are. For example, what seems to be a good freeway - type road may have unexpected crossroads or sharply merging traffic or it may narrow down very quickly into a two - lane road. Equally, drivers can slip into a motorway mentality, and when they move on to a city or suburban road they can forget they are in a more complicated driving environment and fail to slow down and watch out for cross traffic, pedestrians and cyclists.

Such factors may account for why 64 per cent of serious crashes occur on our arterial roads. That represents about 556 casualties in the ACT each year. The new national road safety strategy which has just been released by transport ministers from all jurisdictions identifies improving the safety of roads as the single most significant achievable factor in reducing road trauma. Given this unequivocal endorsement of the safety value of road improvements, there can be no doubt that the ACT is entitled to a fair share of the new

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