Page 1815 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 4 May 2011
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They probably do not want any road. We heard Meredith Hunter this morning talking about the Majura Parkway. They are just anti road. They do not want roads. I am not sure how we are all going to get around. I know that Caroline Le Couteur wants to get us back to the caves. In the first media conference she did she said, “We don’t want to get back to the caves yet,” or something. So she wants us to go there but just not quite yet. But the party are opposed to development. They are opposed to the motor vehicle. They do not care about people in the suburbs: how are they going to get to the city if not on a road?
If the Greens were left to run this place, and clearly they do have a significant influence on the way this government runs the place, we would see the people of Gungahlin and the people in the outer suburbs of the ACT severely disadvantaged while the Greens pursue their pet projects, their environmental obsessions. We are all environmentally aware but they are obsessed to the point that they do not want roads. I think it is quite bizarre.
It is disappointing that this road has taken so long. The biggest disappointment is for the people of Gungahlin. I commend Mr Coe for bringing this motion before the Assembly today.
MR SMYTH (Brindabella) (3.43): It is quite ironic that on the day we have this motion we saw what happened on the GDE this morning—an absolute disaster: another breakdown, another diversion, people being inconvenienced and the loss of productivity. It is such a common event with the management of this project by this government.
But let me start with some of the things that you said, Madam Assistant Speaker Le Couteur. You said that the Greens were not anti Gungahlin. I thought you said that you were not anti Gungahlin Drive. But, as Mr Hanson has just pointed out, that was not what your leader said. I will quote it again. Meredith Hunter, on 24 March 2010, said:
That is probably a straightforward one for the Greens. We did not believe that was the right road to build in the first place …
So there we have it: no major additional road into Gungahlin. That is the Greens’ position on this. Again, as Mr Hanson has just said, if you look at some of the comments surrounding the Majura Parkway this morning, I guess there is doubt as to whether or not the Greens will support that as well.
The problem for the people of Canberra is that this government does not have the quality control in its processes and does not have the commitment to seeking value for money for the people of the ACT. I am glad Mr Stanhope is here because he deserves a history lesson. He said this morning that the Liberals never intended to build this road—wrong. He said that it was in our last budget—wrong. Money was appropriated to start this work across two budgets—2000-01 and 2001-02.
Mr Stanhope, in his own ministerial code of conduct, says ministers should find out and verify the things they state are correct or they should come back and correct the
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