Page 2573 - Week 08 - Thursday, 30 June 2005
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And what does that mean? That increases patronage. Indeed, experience around the country and around the world—
Mrs Dunne: It only increases patronage if you have a decent service to patronise.
MR CORBELL: I know you have been caught out on this. But I am very sorry: they should have thought about it before they made such a silly comment. The reality is that investing in real-time information can increase patronage on routes that have real-time information by between three and 10 per cent. That is a significant increase in patronage. For example, in the past year we have seen an eight per cent increase in adult passenger boardings. So under this government, more people—
Opposition members interjecting—
MR CORBELL: Mr Speaker, it is interesting to hear the criticism from the opposition because more people are catching public transport than ever before. Indeed, from 2003-04 to 2004-05 we have seen an increase of 50,000 in the number of adult passenger boardings. Patronage is going up. I would have thought members would welcome that. Indeed, I thank Dr Foskey for her gracious acknowledgment of the government’s preparedness to invest in public transport. That is not something that you get from the alternative government in this place, even though they claim to be interested in improving public transport in Canberra.
That leads me, of course, to the next criticism that we heard from the Liberal Party, and that was that if I had the courage of my convictions I would invest in light rail. Of course, the question should be asked, and I will ask it: where was the Liberal Party’s courage of their convictions in the last election campaign? Did they promise to build a light rail network? Did they put on the table money that they said they would be prepared to spend as a government to build a light rail network? If they think that is the answer, where was it? Where was the election commitment? Where was the courage of Mrs Dunne’s convictions? There was not any. To use her own gauge, she showed no courage, she showed no courage of her convictions. All she promised was a study—a study that has already been done. But she promised to do it again. What a waste of money that would have been if they had been elected to government.
This government is showing the courage of its convictions. We are prepared to spend more money on public transport and we are getting the results. We are getting increased public patronage, we are getting improved reliability and we are lifting the standard of public transport.
Of course, as members would know, the budget provides for a continuation of our bus fleet replacement program. An additional 11 new compressed natural gas buses will be added to the fleet in the coming year, increasing to over 50 the total number of new environmentally friendly, wheelchair accessible buses in the ACTION fleet that we have purchased since being in office. We have also increased funding for our bus maintenance and obviously we have increased funding to deal with the increased cost of diesel fuel. Of course, our commitment to public transport is an ongoing one. The budget continues funding for the feasibility and detailed design of the Belconnen to city busway, and this work will inform future government consideration of that project.
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