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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2001 Week 7 Hansard (20 June) . . Page.. 2196 ..

MR SMYTH (continuing):

They talk about process. They say, "You did not consult." Ms Tucker also said, "You did not consult. You did not talk to people. You did not look at the impact. You did not do a study." I challenge them to stand up and say that in the lead-up to the coming election, before they make a promise, they will consult. They might do a regulatory impact study. They might do a business impact study. Before they make the promises, and before they go to the election, they will have to tell the community which of their promises are sworn promises, because they have done the study, and which of their promises are bodgie promises that will disappear in light of analysis after the election.

If they are true to what they are saying here today-that you cannot make a promise unless you have done some analysis, done some work to know what the impact is, consulted with the community and understand what might happen-then in the lead-up to the election they should not make a single promise that they have not put through the same process. But they will not. This is just a charade. It is just a charlatan's game they play. If they are elected, they will not have the guts to take this initiative away. That is the bottom line.

Mr Speaker, it was curious to hear all the words of Mr Wood when they are the party that has been missing in action on policy over the last couple of years. They are the party that have put forward not a single concrete idea on how the ACT might be improved. Instead they have spent the majority of their time talking of gloom and doom, crying wolf and driving the economy down.

Mr Hargreaves said, "There was no consultation. How dare you go out and do this? It is not a promise anymore, because it was made in 1995." Yet when we put forward the reforms to ACTION, Mr Hargreaves is the man who constantly interjected across the chamber, "When are you going to honour your promise to put in the free school buses?" The answer is: on 3 September. Why can we do it now? Because we have got the territory into a position where we can afford it. That is because of the good financial management of this government.

Mr Hargreaves seems to be confused about the buses. Nineteen new CNG, compressed natural gas, buses will be purchased over the next four years for use in the territory. Some buses will also be hired in the interim as we work out which routes require more services and which do not. The new buses will be good for the environment. The new buses will also be accessible, as we work towards honouring our agreement to get the entire ACTION fleet accessible. When they are not being used for the school routes, they will be used to provide accessibility on those routes that need it the most-the routes that serve the major shopping centres, the hospitals and the educational institutions. These buses are a tremendous transport initiative.

If Labor object so much to us giving away $27 million because supposedly not enough people in the ACT will benefit from the free school buses, because 75 per cent of students will supposedly miss out, will they also say that they will renege on the reduction in registration? Not everybody in the ACT owns a car. Only those who own a car would get the benefit of reduced registration. Will they put that $10 million into education as well? It will be interesting to hear their arguments on that.

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