Page 2244 - Week 07 - Thursday, 23 June 2005
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guidelines are a priority and then fail to provide any money in the budget to enable them to be prepared?
MR CORBELL: As members would appreciate, there is only a limited amount of resources available for a whole range of activity within the government. The planning authority is no different in that regard and must work within the means provided to it by the government to meet government priorities. Those priorities are, in and of themselves, ordered to meet the objectives we, as a government, have.
MR SESELJA: Mr Speaker, I have a supplementary question. Why is it that you make commitments to the people of Canberra before the election and then renege on those commitments once you have been returned?
MR CORBELL: The government has not reneged on its commitment. These guidelines will be produced, and they will be produced within the term of this government.
Speed cameras
MR GENTLEMAN: Can the Minister for Urban Services inform the Assembly of the effectiveness of the fixed red light and speed cameras as part of the government’s overall road safety package?
MR HARGREAVES: I appreciate Mr Gentleman’s ongoing interest in road safety issues. I am pleased to inform the Assembly that, since the installation of the fixed cameras at specific sites, we have seen a significant decrease in the number of accidents occurring at those intersections. I know that lately there has been some debate in the media about whether accidents are increasing at these sites and there have been calls for the government to look at the locations more closely.
The figures that opposition members have been basing their assertion on are figures from the first 12 months after a speed camera was installed. In some cases, this was as far back as 2001. Mr Pratt relied on information from Mr Seselja, and Mr Seselja asked for information relating to performance for the first 12 months after introduction, instead of the current information relative to the date of introduction.
Mr Pratt, in his press release, talked about the London Circuit and Northbourne Avenue intersection having an increase from 33 to 35 accidents. He talked about the intersection of Southern Cross Drive and Coulter Drive going up from 23 to 35 accidents. What he does not know—because he did not ask—is that the Northbourne Avenue and London Circuit intersection has seen a reduction of 18 per cent from introduction to December last year. There has been a selective use of statistics.
This was a good one. He asked and I answered his question. The intersection of Southern Cross and Coulter drives does not even have a camera anymore. It was moved in 2003. We took it to the Hindmarsh Drive-Yamba Drive intersection. Since then, we have seen a 67 per cent reduction in accidents.
In all except one of the fixed red light and speed camera sites, we have seen a reduction in the number of accidents. In many cases, we have seen a change in the type of
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