Page 217 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 15 February 2012
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through the southern reaches of Belconnen is very difficult, and anyone from the north-western reaches of Belconnen who would use Gungahlin Drive to go to Civic is in a difficult position because of the choke points.
Mr Coe, because this is his job, has been talking to people and addressing the issues of delivering good local roads. One of the approaches he has come up with—which has been endorsed by my colleagues—is that we should look at the transformation of the current T2 lane into a transit lane replicating the conditions that apply on Adelaide Avenue. The use of Adelaide Avenue has been a success, and that has been admitted by most people here. It was a success for quite a long time during the building and rebuilding of the Gungahlin Drive extension. The merits of a transit lane in that area are there for all to see. What Mr Coe is doing by his policy announcement and by this motion here today is trying to create that reality for the people of Belconnen.
It is obvious from the attitudes of the government and the Greens that the people of Belconnen will have to wait until after the October election when a Liberal government will deliver this, because the current government is unprepared to address and meet the needs of the people of Belconnen. It is most interesting that the Labor members for Belconnen—Dr Bourke and Ms Porter—are not present here today. It appears they will be having no say about the transport needs of the people of Belconnen. That will not go unremarked in the electorate.
Ms Porter likes to talk about how she is the best local member in this place. She is good at writing letters, but she is actually not very good at standing up to the government and saying, “Look, it’s just not good enough.” The people in Belconnen are now confronted with car parks on William Hovell Drive, car parks on the Parkes Way exit from the GDE and car parks on Belconnen Way. Mr Coe, after consultation with the people who live there, with the electors, has come up with a partial solution. It is not the silver bullet, but it goes some way to addressing local services in our electorate.
What we have got here today is this dismissive put-down amendment, which is a disgrace. We are not going to talk about it today because the Chief Minister is not ready. “I’m not ready; I want to do it tomorrow,” she said. “And it is very naughty of Alistair to want to do it today, because I want to do it tomorrow and I am the Chief Minister and I will hold my breath and I will stamp my feet and I will do it in my time.”
This is the tenor of the amendment. The tenor of the amendment is dismissive and discourteous. To call Mr Coe’s motion “premature and inappropriate” is dismissive and discourteous to the people of the ACT. If you are ready to speak about this tomorrow—this has been through cabinet—your speech is written, the documents are prepared. You could have come—
MR ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Mr Hargreaves): Through the chair, please, Mrs Dunne.
MRS DUNNE: Mr Assistant Speaker, the Chief Minister could have come down here today and really contributed to this debate. We may have disagreed—I do not know—
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