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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 6 Hansard (16 May) . . Page.. 1723 ..

MR STANHOPE (continuing):

we will open a step-down facility when Mr Quinlan, if he survives trying to find a way through the mess that you have left us, actually ensures that we meet the commitments that we made to the people of Canberra.

MR SMYTH: Minister, last week you informed this Assembly that you were the most popular Chief Minister and the busiest person who has ever been seen. Have you been too busy to keep your eye on the TCH emergency department, and will the current problems at the hospital adversely affect your self-proclaimed immense popularity?

MR STANHOPE: It is good to get the measure of these things. Of course, I am interested in numbers too, Mr Smyth. I was reflecting on it before. What was it about the previous government that led to 45,000 more Canberrans abandoning it? What was it about the previous government that led to a 16 per cent shift of votes from the Liberal Party to the Labor Party?

Did you ponder this at Bungendore? What was it about the way you operated? Was it your disregard for the fundamentals of government? Was it your disregard for health care? Was it your disregard for people with a disability? Was it your disregard for people with a mental illness? Was it your disregard for the law? Was it your disregard for the fact that you broke the law in the redevelopment of Bruce Stadium? Was it those things, or was it actually the sheer incompetence of the cabinet?

Let me go through the cabinet, one by one: Mr Humphries has always done all right in the polls. He has a certain reputation as being not too bad, except he is a little bit lazy. Who could object to Bill? Nice bloke, harmless, bumbles along, holds his own, good sort of a bloke. Then there was Michael Moore, who was not even one of you, so we actually cannot hold it against him. However, there were four ministers. Gary was doing all right, with a 40 to 50 per cent approval rating. Michael Moore does not count, because he was not even a Liberal. Bill, bumbling old Bill, good bloke, nobody minds him. That only leaves one-Brendan.

You have to have a look at yourself every now and again. It is all down to you, Mr Smyth. 45,000 people who voted for you the time before did not vote for you last time. Sixteen per cent-the biggest swing since self-government, and probably the biggest swing in an election since the Second World War, if you think about it. What a thrashing!

Bike racks on buses

MS TUCKER: My question is to Mr Corbell as minister responsible for public transport. Minister, you may be aware that the Brisbane City Council recently announced that it will be conducting a 12-month trial of bike racks on six of its buses. The racks take two bicycles and will be fitted to the front of the buses. These are standard bike racks that are already widely utilised in north American public transport systems, including the bus networks in Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles, San Diego and Vancouver. These racks have proved to be very popular with cyclists, who use them to travel longer distances across the city.

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