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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2001 Week 10 Hansard (28 August) . . Page.. 3379 ..

MR STEFANIAK (continuing):

We also have to look at things like ancillary paths and underpasses for pedestrians, which would add to the overall cost of a western alignment. There is also the question about personal safety for people using underpasses under a western alignment, particularly at night, and the considerable inconvenience involved in attending events at the AIS and Bruce Stadium, making that less attractive.

The AIS attracts many tourists and many school groups. It attracts many patrons who go to events such as the Cannons, the Brumbies, the Raiders, the Cosmos, and other events at Bruce Stadium. Not quite so many go to the Cosmos, but people still go.

Mr Speaker, I have said a couple of times, and I will say it again in relation to this debate, that the states would love to have the AIS out of Canberra. They would love to see it somewhere else. The AIS employs hundreds of people. There are a lot of athletes in residence at the AIS. It provides a wonderful service to the Canberra sporting community and the regional sporting community. It is one of the greatest assets in the ACT.

Let's not kid ourselves. There are a lot of people out there in the other states who do not like Canberra. They bash Canberra all the time. It would not take very much for people in the federal parliament, I am sure, to do their best to make sure the AIS got out of Canberra. I think there is a very real chance, if the western route went ahead, that we could see that happen. I do not think that is something that the vast majority of citizens in this town would like.

I am rather amazed that the effect the western route would have just on general sporting activities in the Bruce precinct and in Bruce Stadium has not really dawned on the Labor Party, and that is a party that is supposed to support sport in the ACT. I cannot see how that would assist. All you need to do is have a walk along that path.

Then, of course, we have the problem of Bruce Campus of the Canberra Institute of Technology. The western route starts cutting through bushland. Well, let's face it, both routes do that to an extent. It skirts very close to the Bruce Campus of the CIT, very close to that road that connects Battye Street and provides access into the campus and out to, I think, Caswell Drive. It is very close to the CIT. There would be problems with noise for students studying and further expenses involved there. Is that, again, the most sensible thing to do? Then it joins where the eastern route would come around, and there might be some further problems. I will get to those, Mr Speaker, but you are back to the same basic route.

Have a look at the eastern route. What does it do? Well, I think I have taken it as far as Ginninderra Drive. The eastern route then follows pretty closely the alignment of Tucker Street. It seems to go to the west of Tucker Street, initially, and then effectively follows Tucker Street, takes off a bit of the car park to the east of Bruce Stadium, hooks around through the trees-yes, there would be a number of trees cleared there-heads west behind Bruce Stadium, behind the athletics field, and joins up at the rear of the CIT Bruce Campus, to the south of it. That is where the western alignment would come out. Certainly, some trees would be destroyed there, but they would anyway, once you left Battye Street and went behind the CIT campus, if you favoured the western route.

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