Page 2239 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 22 June 2011
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There are a number of routes east-west that give us a nice grid system that allows rapid transport and accessibility and ease of movement for the people of the ACT and those that come and visit or those that transit through. It was always planned this way. Just because something was always planned this way does not mean you should go ahead with it.
But I think people understand the importance of this road. This is not just a road for the people of Gungahlin. It is not just a road that will take off the pressure in the inner north. It is not just a road for freight. It is not just a road for the snowfields. It is not just a road for those that want to visit the Monaro. It is actually a road, in my perspective, for the people of Brindabella as well, because it allows those on the southern side of Canberra to move north without having to go through Civic, without having to go up the western route. It allows the people of Brindabella the transport system that they deserve, and that is why I agree wholeheartedly with Mr Coe’s motion today.
I think it is very important that people know that it is an upgrade that is required for road safety. And if you have not been involved in the trauma of a road accident, if you have not had it happen to you or you have not had it happen to a loved one, you cannot understand how it hurts families and communities when people die or are injured in road transport accidents. This road is well past its use-by date in terms of road safety. I can recall briefings when I was the minister about some of those dangerous curves and the way that the road is currently built that makes it unacceptable to upgrade it.
The point was made that not upgrading the road and building the new Majura parkway is somehow ecological vandalism. To upgrade the existing road pushes into some very interesting verge areas that are truly the last remnants of some of the original grasslands and wooded areas that were in that valley. So it may be that the greater environmental vandalism is in fact to upgrade the existing road. But it is also impossible to upgrade the existing road because if you want grade separation so that you have got flyovers to get in and out of the airport and other places, you actually come into conflict with some of our aviation legislation which says you cannot have things of a certain height within a distance of the airport.
For a whole lot of reasons, to upgrade the existing road is unacceptable. To leave the existing road as it is is even less unacceptable. I do not know how many accidents you have to have on a road before you get to change it but it is quite clear that this road is well past its use-by date and the work should have been done.
It is unfortunate that the Chief Minister, when she got up, talked in such sad tones about young Canberrans. I think she should apologise for the use of the words “young Alistair”. What it says is that this Chief Minister believes that if you are young and you have an opinion, do not dare voice it, because the Labor Party will not listen to it. And I think it is really sad from a Chief Minister who earlier this week promised to be more open and more accountable. What she should be doing is listening to what young people in this city are saying, not using disparaging words, not just shooting the messenger and going back to her normal old practice of saying, “This is a good
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