Page 3618 - Week 10 - Tuesday, 26 August 2008
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I could not find anything. I could not find anybody out there saying what they would do; how they would improve the infrastructure in this city; how they would improve the look of the city centre; how would they improve the look of the Tuggeranong town centre.
It was this government that encouraged the restaurant strip in Anketell Street. I do not hear anything about that, but I do remember, however, going back in my mind, in terms of horticultural activities, if my memory serves me correctly, it was Mr Smyth that wanted to close CityScape. I think that is right. Yes. Closing something hardly contributes to an increase in the amenity.
Somebody across there tried to sell Actew, if my memory serves me correctly. We are looking forward to working with ActewAGL to ensure our water supply. That is about the amenity of the city. We were not going to sell the whole lot; no way. They did. What did they do? They actually sold half of it before the Labor Party stopped the sale of the other half.
I can remember also they were going to sell ACTION. We have got cabinet documents now that show that Mr Smyth wanted to sell our bus service. How good is that! That is a good way to make sure that everybody in this city has a pleasant environment in which to live.
All I can see so far is a litany of things which contributed to the downturn in the quality of life in this city. This government has ploughed millions upon millions of dollars into lifting that quality of life. How many millions of dollars have gone into the ACTION bus network? $50 million worth of rolling stock and another $8 million on top of that. We have got additional services, additional routes, additional bus drivers; we have got priority lanes. Who was it that introduced the T2 lane, I wonder? I think it might have been my colleague Mr Corbell who did that.
There are the on-road cycle lanes—who introduced those?—to make it a pleasant place and a very nice way for us to move about the city. It was Mr Corbell who did that. What did they do? I can remember addressing Pedal Power in the Hellenic Club, promising before the 2001 election that we would put in the on-road cycle lanes. Mr Smyth said they would not do it. If my memory serves me correctly, they went to the 2004 election saying that they were going to undo it. That was clever.
What have we done? We have ploughed millions and millions of dollars into the city because we want to make it the best city in the world. And we are not too far out of it. But we are doing it in spite of them. All they had to do was say, “We want to jump on board; we will work with you; let’s do it.” No, they have to play petty, Sun-ripened Warm Tomato Party politics.
Mr Stanhope: I ask that further questions be placed on notice.
Personal explanation
MR PRATT (Brindabella): Under standing order 46 I want to clarify a matter. I seek your—
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