Page 3958 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 5 December 2007
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Similarly, in relation to interchanges, our interchanges are undergoing a complete re-organisation, a complete realignment. They are being refurbished. The lighting is being adjusted to make them safer. CCTV cameras are being introduced and implemented. There is a complete overhaul of issues in relation to safety on public transport, under the leadership, the direction and the advocacy of John Hargreaves as minister.
I thank the Deputy Leader of the Opposition for the question. I am pleased to have had the opportunity to indicate the difference in approach, response and resourcing between the Liberal Party and the Labor Party in relation to public transport and public safety—a position of nil cameras, no cameras, under Bill Stefaniak and Brendan Smyth—none, not one: zilch, zero. Once again, we have this lovely level of self-awareness from amongst the Liberal Party.
Mr Pratt: You opposed them on human rights grounds.
MR SPEAKER: Order, Mr Pratt!
MR STANHOPE: They berate the minister for transport for not providing CCTV cameras or security for the public transport or bus travelling public in an environment where, under the Liberal Party, no security measures were implemented. We have gone to a situation in which John Hargreaves as minister has oversighted the installation in every single bus of a CCTV camera.
Mr Stefaniak: You objected to the cameras.
MR SPEAKER: Order, Mr Stefaniak!
MR STANHOPE: There is the stark difference. We go: Liberals nought, Labor 100. Liberals: none—nought per cent, not a single bus, not a single camera. Labor Party: every single bus and every single interchange gets a camera.
MR SPEAKER: A supplementary question, Mrs Burke?
MRS BURKE: Yes, thank you, Mr Speaker. Chief Minister, just to confirm then: are you satisfied that Mr Hargreaves has done everything possible to ensure the security and safety of staff and patrons of ACTION at bus interchanges?
MR STANHOPE: We have moved dramatically from the situation that we inherited from the Liberal Party—of absolutely no CCTV cameras, no security devices, no regard or thought for security on public transport—to a situation where this is now top of the agenda; not just top of the agenda but in relation to which we have invested heavily. So I have enormous faith that we have over this last six years moved mountains, moved miles, in our determination to safeguard not just the travelling public but also bus drivers and commuters. The differentiation is stark: under the Liberal Party, no cameras on ACTION buses in the ACT—nil, none, zilch, zero; under the Labor Party, a camera on every single bus.
I had thought that the Liberal Party legacy in relation to mental health was perhaps one of the most awful of the statistics or differentiations that could have been
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