Page 5189 - Week 12 - Thursday, 27 October 2011
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One development I am particularly pleased about is the extension of the Blue Rapid bus line to Kippax and the expansion of the park and ride there. West Belconnen has long needed this service, and I congratulate the government on this achievement and on listening to and working with the Greens to get this great outcome. I know that at the very least the Liberal Party acknowledge that the park and rides are an important outcome. Their 2008 election policies spruiked the benefits of new park and rides in Canberra.
In addition, I point out the positive influence of the Greens on transport. It has been evident in a number of the government’s policies. Some of these policies are very good. We congratulate the government on developing them and on engaging with us to work cooperatively to get some good results. For example, the new transport policy contains a chapter on active transport and it picks up many of the issues that my colleagues Ms Le Couteur and Ms Bresnan have repeatedly raised over the Assembly term, including through the active transport discussion paper the Greens released in 2009. There are numerous other examples. For instance, the Greens made a public submission on the greater Civic plan. By the time the final plan was released, a number of our recommendations had been included. Some of these were a bicycle parking initiative and an investigation into soft separation of pedestrians and cyclists to improve safety.
In fact, I would like to refer to the table on page 12 of the government’s new transport plan called “Transport highlights 2001-2011”. We certainly advocated for many of these achievements through our agreement, discussion papers or Assembly motions. Again, an example is the new directional signage, new footpaths, new cycle paths, signing up to the international charter of walking, a feasibility study of Northbourne Avenue and new park-and-ride facilities. These are good examples of the crossbench utilising government process to make improvements to Canberra’s transport outcomes.
I mention also that the Greens have made many representations about light rail, and Ms Bresnan mentioned this. This seems to have returned in some form to the government’s agenda, and we are very happy at this progress. It is back on the agenda. It is something we seriously need to start pursuing. We need to see the government take that one on and start pushing it, particularly at the commonwealth level and through Infrastructure Australia.
We have concerns that the government is not taking this on as well as they should, and this was most evident when Ms Bresnan introduced a motion in the Assembly about progressing rail, and the government just dismissed that motion out of hand. That talked about light rail and other forms of rail—revitalising freight rail, for instance, getting big trucks off the road, getting back to rebuilding the rail system across this country.
In conclusion, I want to emphasise the primary point Ms Bresnan made in her speech earlier—that is, public transport funding is central to this city’s future. The government appears to be moving ahead, and we appreciate its expressed commitment to sustainable transport. But we need to continue to see real action. It needs strong action and it needs to happen rapidly.
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