Page 2718 - Week 07 - Thursday, 3 July 2008
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power is offered to all consumers. It was interesting that yesterday the government had an opportunity to mandate renewable energy targets and it passed up that opportunity.
Until this last budget, there have been no initiatives in relation to research and development of alternative energy systems. We wait with some hope on the feasibility study in relation to the solar power plant. But we are also concerned, given this government’s incapacity to get site selection for power utilities right, that they will mess this one up as well.
In addition to the high-level issues, we need to look at the way in which the government handles infrastructure in the suburbs. I point out the issue that my colleague Mr Stefaniak raised the other day in relation to constituents in his suburb of Macgregor. The Chief Minister said in response to that:
A number of issues were raised, including how much of the area would be developed, the impact of development on traffic, the implications for all roads and resultant traffic impacts.
He stated that a document was released at a consultation meeting that showed exactly what was in store for the people of Macgregor in relation to new road infrastructure. The opposition has a copy of the map in relation to the West Belconnen development. We received it from a Macgregor resident. That does contemplate two access roads from Osburn Drive into the new Macgregor area. One of them is clearly marked and has been on the cards for some time because it ends in a dead end and has done since Macgregor was developed. The other is a new, unnamed road which does not, according to the map, have a roundabout on it and the constituents that I have dealt with and Mr Stefaniak has dealt with––
Mr Seselja: They have made it up.
MRS DUNNE: They have made it up. (Time expired.)
MR CORBELL (Molonglo—Attorney-General, Minister for Police and Emergency Services) (3.45): Infrastructure is not just bricks and mortar, steel and concrete. It is about service delivery to the community; it is about economic activity; and it is about meeting the community’s needs. I would like to thank Mrs Dunne for bringing forward this matter—I must say she did not deliver it with much panache or energy—which is of significant importance to the community and this government.
Given the relevance of infrastructure to service provision, I should take a few moments to mention briefly what this government’s record is. And it is a record which is unparalleled. It is a record of doubling the health expenditure. It is a record of lifting the mental health expenditure from the lowest per capita in the country to one of the highest. It is a record of funding disability services and child protection services properly. It is also a record of strong economic growth, of the lowest level of unemployment, of high interstate migration—high levels of economic activity, in summary.
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