Page 96 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 15 February 2006
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fact, due to the slow population growth in the ACT, patronage numbers can only increase to a certain number before the public transport market is saturated. There will always be a point at which public transport is not an option for the majority of the population. Not everyone wants to travel from A to B; nor can they if they have children to pick up, meetings to attend, dry cleaning to carry and shopping to do, all in a normal day’s cycle of work, travelling and school.
I join with the government and Ms Porter in congratulating ACTION drivers and employees on their tireless commitment and hard work in providing an important community service. I also congratulate drivers on the sterling work they continue to do, in spite of not necessarily deterioration but a downslide in safety for our bus drivers. We can only call upon the government to find the heart and the means to put more resources into bus security. Perhaps, instead of pumping money into the real-time bus information system, that sort of money could be used to ensure that our buses are safer for our bus drivers and our patrons.
Those are the sorts of essential service tasks that need to be carried out by this government. This government is big on plans, on glossy brochures and on magnificent statements, but it never seems to get the priorities right. It never seems to be able to reliably deliver essential services and to ensure that standards are in place. Safety is always a paramount concern when you are considering expenditure priorities. My only wish is that, rather than continuing to spend money on their grand visionary projects, the government give ACTION bus drivers the support they need to carry out their jobs in a safe and secure environment. We have talked about busways. The government’s commitment to public transport should be to prioritise the safety and quality of the current bus system.
DR FOSKEY (Molonglo) (10.53): Mr Speaker, I will be supporting Ms Porter’s motion because, in itself, it is a statement of the obvious. Obviously the ACT government is committed to its sustainable transport plan, and there is no doubt that there is been increasing growth in adult patronage of the ACTION bus service. Drivers and employees of ACTION buses are committed and, within the terms of the government’s policy and resources, they do provide efficient and sustainable transport in the ACT.
I put it to members, though, that the concern is that the government does not set itself high enough benchmarks in its sustainable transport plan, and I will go on to explain that today. Although there have been positive targets and actions for some modes of transport through the government’s sustainable transport plan, particularly cycling and walking, the Greens believe that the plan just does not go far enough.
Transport planning is not well enough integrated into general urban planning through the sustainable transport plan or the Canberra spatial plan. While sustainable transport is treated as an afterthought in urban planning progress on this front in Canberra will always be slow. There is no mention in the sustainable transport plan of the need for planning to concentrate residential densities and key facilities along main nodes of public transport transit lines, although I do believe that is a government objective.
Although there has been considerable urban consolidation over the past decade in Canberra, disappointingly there has not been a related decrease in the number of car trips. This raises many questions about the current nature of integrated planning and
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