Page 4293 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 22 September 2010
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It is a list of steps that I have taken and insisted upon that is longer than my arm. So you know the list of accountability mechanisms that are in place. There is no shortage of opportunities for minute assessment of all of the steps that we as a government take to ensure accountability and transparency at a minute level in relation to the provision of services to the territory.
ACTION bus service—breaches
MR SMYTH: My question is to the Chief Minister and Minister for Territory and Municipal Services. I refer to the Auditor-General’s report on the delivery of ACTION bus services, where, in chapter 2, pages 15, 16, 17, 18 and 19, she provides context on her audit finding:
TAMS has not fully complied with aspects of the Road Transport (Passengers Services) Act, Regulations and Minimum Standards, Disability Discrimination Act, Regulations and Standards and the ACT Human Rights Act;
Chief Minister, why has your department breached this legislation?
Mr Seselja: Is that minor, breaching legislation?
MR STANHOPE: The breaches, as I understand it, were indeed minor. Once again, the context of any issue or discussion in relation to compliance with Disability Discrimination Act requirements has to be taken in the context of the staged implementation or meeting of those obligations. As you very well know, we have given a commitment that we will by 2012—in other words, in two years time—be 55 per cent compliant. We have never at any stage—nor did you in government—pretended that at this stage on this day in 2010 we are compliant, because we are retrofitting. Part of the massive investment in buses, of course, is to ensure that the fleet converts to disability-able or accessible buses. When you were in government, you did not buy any disability-capable buses, and we are retrofitting the fleets.
Mr Hanson: On a point of order, Mr Speaker, on relevance, the question was not about retrofitting buses; it was specifically about breaching legislation.
MR SPEAKER: There is no point of order. The question was about compliance with the law, and I believe the Chief Minister, in speaking about retrofitting, is speaking about the government’s attempts to comply with the law.
MR STANHOPE: And the commitment that we have made. This once again goes to the context of the Auditor-General’s report. The commitment that we have made as a government, along with every other government in Australia—we have all as governments nationally made the same commitment—is that we will by 2012 ensure that 55 per cent of our infrastructure is accessible; in other words, that it complies with the Disability Discrimination Act.
At this stage it does not, we know it does not, we have never said it does, and it will not. Indeed, by 2012, we will only be 55 per cent compliant. So you can say, “You’re
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