Page 3655 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 23 August 2011
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government did not care about rail freight in the territory. She would know that that is a blatant misrepresentation of the answer I gave in question time last week.
In relation to rail freight, and specifically in relation to Ms Le Couteur’s question, the ACT government does not own any rail freight facilities or rail freight line in the territory; nor does the ACT government operate rail freight services. We remain supportive of any moves to improve the provision of rail freight in the territory but, as I have previously indicated to Ms Bresnan, we do not operate or own rail freight facilities and therefore our capacity to influence these issues is limited.
MR HARGREAVES: A supplementary, Mr Speaker.
MR SPEAKER: Yes, Mr Hargreaves.
MR HARGREAVES: Minister, in relation to rail, and freight rail particularly, does the successful commitment from the federal government include provision of a corridor to accommodate rail through the Majura valley?
MR CORBELL: The feasibility study released by the federal minister, Minister Albanese, on possible future high speed rail identifies that one of the issues that needs to be resolved, should a decision be taken to proceed with very high speed rail, will be what should be the approach into the Australian Capital Territory. It identifies a number of possible routes, including the Majura valley, but also including possibly other routes coming directly into the city centre itself.
The study identifies a range of possible costs and benefits from such an approach and recommends further investigative work. I understand that that work has now been commissioned by Minister Albanese.
Crime—statistics
DR BOURKE: My question is to the Attorney-General. Minister, recently you outlined a range of positive downward trends in property crime and similar offences in the ACT. Could you outline to the Assembly what these trends are and why they are trending down?
MR CORBELL: I thank Dr Bourke for his question. It is the case that we have seen some very significant improvements in the offending rate for a range of offences in the ACT. In particular, I am pleased to say that figures in the most recent ABS report indicate that offences of burglary and motor vehicle theft in the ACT are continuing to trend downwards. The report shows an overall decrease in the number of victims of property crime in the ACT in the last calendar year. Specifically, the report shows a decrease in the level of motor vehicle theft, which has decreased by 30.6 per cent, robberies, which are down by 27.6 per cent, and unlawful entry with intent, which is down by 12.9 per cent.
These are tremendous results for our community because they highlight that those crimes most likely to affect most Canberrans—property crime and motor vehicle theft—are trending down significantly. It is certainly a strong vindication of the
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