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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 12 Hansard (6 December) . . Page.. 3764 ..

MR SMYTH (continuing):

relation to the airport, the transport hub and the train route. They are very important issues.

We have also announced a $130 million 5 - year road package. The government's commitment here is to providing safe and accessible infrastructure and making sure that we do get it right. In regard to maintaining just the rural roads, this year there is $858,000 for resealing rural roads and that will be spent in part on Apollo Road, Corin Road, Orroral Road, Uriarra Road and the Monaro Highway. As well, there is $176,000 for maintaining the verges - the slashing, the removal of small overhanging branches, the cleaning up of litter and the fixing of guardrails. We have also started a systematic upgrading of all the guideposts on rural roads. That will cost about $96,000.

On top of that, there are the upgrades of the Tharwa Bridge and the Cotter Bridge. For the Tharwa Bridge it is estimated at half a million dollars, of which there will be $250,000 this year. For the bridge over the Cotter it will be $750,000 all up, $500,000 of which will be spent this year. We do have a rural road infrastructure and we do have a need to maintain it. I think that we all ought to be concerned about anything that would put this $20 million at risk.

Among other things that we have facing us are the increase in the mass limits and the use of B - doubles. The federal government has said that it will allow these vehicles on the national road network. We have only 19 kilometres of national road network - basically, the Barton Highway and the Federal Highway. To accommodate the B - doubles and the higher mass limits, we need to upgrade some of our bridges, for instance. That is estimated at $15 million worth of engineering solutions.

That is very important because Canberra does serve the surrounding community. Our commuters travel on these roads and it is very important that we get it right. What is important is that we should not let somebody, for cheap politics, put our funding at risk. To have somebody like Warren Snowdon saying that it is a sick joke and to have somebody like the federal Leader of the Opposition saying that it is a boondoggle, a pointless and time - wasting exercise, is something of concern for all of us.

The sad thing is that those opposite will not join in the debate. Whenever the Assembly directs that we write to the federal government, at this stage a Liberal government, we take that seriously and write to them. Whenever the Liberal government federally does something that we do not agree with, we go out and make the point to them that we do not believe that what they are doing is the right thing.

It is fair and reasonable for this Assembly to direct the Chief Minister and the Leader of the Opposition, in this case, to write to the Leader of the Opposition's federal leader asking him to guarantee that this funding will not be touched. Those opposite get a bit tetchy and a bit sensitive. Mr Berry said, "It is a silly stunt, Harold. Why don't you write to Mr Beazley yourself." I noted no comment of support from Mr Berry for rural road funding in the ACT.

Mr Hargreaves said that it is silly to stand up to it in this case and that he will not be supporting this motion because, basically, it is an attack on the Labor Party. It is not; it is an attack on somebody who is going to threaten funding to the ACT. We all ought to be standing up to it together, which is what we have often done. There is a clear link here

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