Page 2735 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 28 June 2011
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comes to traffic congestion, a city that is smaller than Canberra but has a far inferior road network.
So when we look at infrastructure planning, we have to ask those fundamental questions. This government has not done it. We have. What we have said is: “Plan for the long term. Take it a little bit away from the four-year political cycle.” And the way you do that is that you appoint an infrastructure commissioner, backed by independent audit experts, and that commissioner gives public advice on the infrastructure plan, on the infrastructure needs of the city and on infrastructure projects. By doing that, by helping to order the priorities properly, you can avoid some of the worst government decision making we have seen in recent years.
Would it have stopped this government choosing to build a one-lane GDE? We do not know. I think blind Freddy could have seen that was a dumb decision. You do not need an infrastructure commissioner to know that when you have got the fastest growing part of Canberra—it is projected to grow beyond 60,000, 70,000, 80,000 people in the years to come—when you are building the main road in, it might be a good idea to actually build it as a two-lane road. You do not need an infrastructure commissioner to know that.
Mr Coe: Cabinet did not know that.
MR SESELJA: It is extraordinary that this Labor government’s decision-making process—it would have included Mr Corbell and Ms Gallagher; they would have been part of that cabinet that made that decision; Mr Hargreaves would have been as well—made that decision that said, “No, that really is a good idea, to build one lane.” When it was finished Mr Hargreaves had the gall to say, “We won’t need to duplicate it for five to 10 years; it will be good for five to 10 years,” when all their traffic reports said, no, it was going to be full from the day it opened. And so it was.
The people of Gungahlin have been let down by the poor decision making by ACT Labor. ACT Labor thought they could pull a swiftie and save a few dollars in years one, two and three, at the absolute expense of the overall cost of the project, at the expense of the commuters in Gungahlin who have had to suffer through the serious delays that come through poor infrastructure planning, through simply getting it wrong time and again. (Second speaking period taken.)
We have got a situation where we can do it better and this government refuses to do it. I was talking about the one-lane GDE. You only have to go to the older parts of Canberra, not even so much the older parts of Canberra, travel down to Tuggeranong, which was built mainly in the 1970s and 1980s, and have a look at some of the road infrastructure that was put into place there. We did not have to wait until Tuggeranong filled up before they put two or three lanes on Drakeford Drive. We did not have to wait until Tuggeranong filled up before we got two lanes on the Tuggeranong Parkway. There was sensible infrastructure planning that said, “We have got a growing area. We need to service it. The best way to service it is to get the infrastructure right the first time.” They did the work. This government has not.
So when we look at our alternative, can it force governments who are intent on making stupid decisions not to make stupid decisions? No, governments are still
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