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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 7 Hansard (24 June) . . Page.. 2368 ..

MS TUCKER

It would be very useful if the government undertook a real cost-benefit analysis of the potential of spending the money on public transport and dealing with the transport issues in alternative ways against building a road. That would be, I would have thought, a basic requirement of the expenditure of such a large amount of money. However, no government, Liberal or Labor, has seriously done that work.

The government says blithely in its statement on budget consultation in budget paper No 3:

The community requested the development of the Gungahlin Drive extension and called for the immediate construction of four lanes...

A part of the community might have said that, but is the government seriously saying that this sums up the information that it uses to develop the policy or that it is actually representative of the whole community's view? This sort of pretence just inflames the anger and betrayal many who supported Labor at the last election feel. Many are bitterly disappointed with this government's priorities, as exemplified by this decision and some others I will highlight.

I acknowledge that the government is doing good work on improving cycling infrastructure, but I note that no new capital works money was allocated for cycleways in this budget.

Another poor decision I will highlight is the putting forward of Forde, Bonner and East O'Malley for development. I have mentioned that already tonight and I am disappointed that it was not framed in the context of our national responsibilities to the endangered ecological community there. I acknowledge that Gooroo and Callum Brae are to be protected, but that is to be expected. I cannot say that we should be extremely grateful and say therefore that we do not expect better. I do not believe that we are in a situation to talk about balance any more because there is so little of the community left in southern Australia. The time for balanced discussions has gone. There is less than 5 per cent in the region and even less across the nation.

In response to a question of mine about some other yellow box/red gum trees in Belconnen that the government felt justified in scrapping, Mr Stanhope did say to me, "Individual trees by themselves, as beautiful as they are, do not a woodland make."I was not suggesting that they did, but that was his response. I would like to say to the government that a glossy brochure does not a sustainable government make and I and others will continue to criticise government decisions that we see to be in conflict with what the government espouses in these areas. Sorry, I just realised that I have said a lot of this before.

I will talk briefly about greenhouse emissions. I would like to know what the Chief Minister has in mind to make things move more quickly on the greenhouse strategy. He has acknowledged my criticisms of the delays and the lack of tangible progress in implementing the greenhouse strategy. He did acknowledge earlier underspending and delays in completing the first review and expressed his frustration at the long and torturous process. He further acknowledged that we have not put a serious enough focus on making pro rata gains in relation to our commitment to reduce greenhouse

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