Page 261 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 15 February 2012
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MR SPEAKER: Order! Stop the clocks, thank you. Members, Mr Seselja has the floor.
MR SESELJA: Thank you, Mr Speaker. Mr Corbell is very touchy, and I would be touchy on it too. We have a situation where we should be looking wherever we can to lower costs. I think we should all agree on that. This particular tax I think is one that we should be getting rid of. It is a modest cost to get rid of, but we heard from pensioners and others at the Tuggeranong Community Council asking, “Why is it that when I cannot afford to pay all of my rego upfront that the Labor government is charging me $25 extra each time—an extra $100 a year?” That is something that we are committed to moving on.
Certainly issues around the lake came up, and we spoke to representatives of the Greenway community. The east Greenway community organisation has come together, and I commend them for their work in highlighting issues of concern to the people of Greenway. But, of course, if the government addresses the issues in Greenway around the lake, that will not just benefit the people in east Greenway. Obviously, it is their local neighbourhood, but thousands of Canberrans access the lake—they run around the lake, walk around the lake, walk the dog around the lake. There are groups like Sailability and others who access it and people go kayaking on the lake. This is an important community facility for the people of Tuggeranong, and we want to see our lake to be useable, for it not to smell, for it not to have the kind of pollution issues that seem to be increasing.
It is a real indictment on this government that, for the last few years, ACT Labor have neglected this. Maybe it is because they do not have active local members in Brindabella actually raising these issues and bringing them forward. They have been underrepresented by their Labor members in Brindabella and in Tuggeranong. This should have been fixed. We debated earlier today the issue around the government saying: “Now we’re going to spend money on these local services after 11 years, if you elect us again. And, by the way, we might start allocating some money before the election.”
That is an absolute admission, and no more so than in Tuggeranong. Whether you go down to the lake or walk around Chisholm shops or the surrounds of Chisholm, there are areas just near the shops where you would expect there to be good footpath access, but there is not. It becomes quite dangerous to cross some of those roads, but people are forced onto the road or are forced well out of their way. These are the types of issues that the residents of Tuggeranong deserve to have addressed, and they deserve a government that will actually take them seriously.
I commend Darryl Johnston and the entire Tuggeranong Community Council executive who do such a good job representing the community. They really work hard in a volunteer capacity. It is certainly a well-attended community council and a very vibrant community council. That is a tribute to the leadership of Darryl and others on the executive but also to those who come and contribute.
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