Page 2620 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 25 September 2007
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MR HARGREAVES: I thank Mr Mulcahy for the question. One could be forgiven for thinking that Mr Mulcahy is perhaps becoming the minister for Jerrabomberra. The ACT section of the road includes the intersection from the Monaro Highway and Lanyon Drive. The original undertaking was that we would fix that intersection and also duplicate the road to the Shepherd Street intersection. That is the $5 million that we allocated in the first instance.
The second tranche of roadworks would take it to the ACT border. That was the second issue. It is not my fault, Mr Speaker, if Mr Mulcahy confuses the two. I understand that, although someone who obviously spends so much time in Jerrabomberra should really know what that road is all about.
When one builds a road, it takes a fair amount of time to do the design work, the preliminary assessment and the technical work, and indeed that work is being done. If an examination of previous budget papers were done—this is budgeting 101, Mr Mulcahy; you’ve got to learn how to read a budget paper.
MR SPEAKER: Mr Hargreaves, through the chair, please.
MR HARGREAVES: All right, Mr Speaker. Mr Mulcahy ought to go back to budget papers 101 and learn how to read them. If he had, he would have seen the provision in there for the works that needed to be done before the yellow machinery turns up. That work is all but completed. In fact, the designs of that particular work were published in the newspaper so that people could see what was happening. That work continues.
Now, of course, we have to go into the second stage, which is from the Shepherd Street, Hume intersection, up to the rest of the ACT border. That will require—surprise, surprise, Mr Speaker—some preliminary work where we have to do geotechnical testing. There has to be all manner of survey work done. There have to be preliminary assessments and environmental impact statements. We have to examine it to make sure that there are no indigenous sites that we might interfere with. All of this, of course, takes time. That is why. Now what I have actually done, I believe, is just to tell you the process for building the road, and the process continues.
MR MULCAHY: I have a supplementary question for the minister. Why has your government consistently failed to complete major road projects on time and on budget?
MR HARGREAVES: Mr Speaker, such a sweeping statement! We could also ask about a certain relevance here. With respect to relevance, why is it that the Liberal Party, when in government, was so frustrating with respect to the Gungahlin Drive extension? Why is it that these people over here delayed that project—
Mrs Dunne: On a point of order, Mr Speaker: Mr Hargreaves was asked a question. He does not have the capacity to redraft the question in a way that might suit him. He was asked a direct question.
MR SPEAKER: Rhetorical questions, Mrs Dunne?
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