Page 3826 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 4 December 2007
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I am determined that this will be the government that finally and comprehensively meets the challenge.
That challenge is designing an efficient, effective and affordable public transport system in a town that was designed for the car.
A lot of other issues on the appropriation bill have been given comprehensive attention by Mr Mulcahy, but there are issues I would like to highlight. I am interested in the amount for the centenary of Canberra scoping. The centenary of Canberra events in 2013 are going to be the most major events in this city since the city was founded and it is really important that we are on the ball there.
Perhaps now that we know which federal government we have got we can really set up a process for working with the federal government. We were told in the hearing by Mr Stanhope that efforts to contact the federal government had not been successful and, therefore, there was a bit of stonewalling going on there. I am not sure about that. Of course I do not know the full story, but that is an issue of concern because Canberra does not necessarily belong to the people who live here, it belongs to the whole of Australia.
We need a world-class series of events and programs for that year because we are acting on the world stage and, if we are going to have that kind of program, then we need to be organising now; we need to be lining up world-class events now. I welcome the fact that there is some money put aside for scoping. I am not entirely sure what scoping means but it is the implementation, I think, that we need, not the scoping. So we look forward to seeing what comes out of this.
Another thing—and this is something the Youth Coalition had something to say about—is that at the end of the day young people are particularly dependent on not just public transport but also the taxi system. The Youth Coalition’s submission raises the issue of safety at the taxi ranks and welcomes the fact that there will be a low-cost service provided by larger taxis. They are interested in that because they want to improve safety in Civic at night. They say, “Involve young people in the further development of this model and future innovations in ACT transport.”
This also applies to the issue of safety at bus interchanges, which came up. Young people did mention this again. They said, “It is not just security cameras we need. We need appropriately trained people.” Appropriately trained people may not be just security guards who stand there. And people who are qualified for employment as security guards are not necessarily people who know how to work with young people or offenders or anyone else. So it is really important that young people are consulted about what they actually need. Remember that some of the danger that comes to them is from other young people. So this is an area for consultation.
While the Youth Coalition welcomes drought proofing in parks and open spaces, because they see that these are places where young people take recreation, I also remind them about the government skate parks and pools. I guess the loss of the Phillip pool would be a real issue to young people in the south. It is thinking
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