Page 3439 - Week 08 - Thursday, 23 August 2012
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the fact is if they actually walked the walk, they would hold this government to account and they would say, “If you want our continued support, you can’t just take us for a ride; you’ve actually got to deliver.”
In addition to this, budget paper 3 at page 93 talks about traffic and parking fines where we are expected to see an increase of $1.2 million in revenue next year. This is a government that is gouging motorists at every single opportunity. They take away car parks knowing that the ACTION bus service is not good enough to be a substitute for the vast majority of Canberrans and knowing it is not a good alternative. What ends up happening is that people drive, there are fewer car spots, people get booked, the government brings in more revenue from increased parking fees which have gone up and up and up—
Ms Gallagher: Revenue from parking fines is going down.
MR COE: I actually said “parking fees”. So when you include the amount of money that people are spending on parking, registration and all the different costs associated with driving, you see that this government is gouging people in Canberra who virtually have no choice but to drive. It is simply impractical to catch an ACTION bus all the time for all the people. To that end, it is quite unjust the way this government is treating so many people, especially people in the outer suburbs.
I join with Mr Hanson in commending the staff of the TAMS directorate. It is a tough area of government, there is no doubt about that. It is a very diverse agency which carries out many essential tasks, many of which often go unnoticed. I would like to put on the record today my thanks and support and that of the opposition for the work they do.
MS LE COUTEUR (Molonglo) (5.44): The Territory and Municipal Services Directorate is one of the most important in the ACT because it provides a wide range of services directly connected to the life of ACT residents. I have been privileged to have the TAMS portfolio responsibility within the ACT Greens, and it has probably been the area of my work where there has been the most contact with constituents. I have generally received good cooperation from the directorate and the minister on the matters, and I commend the good work of the directorate staff in terms of communication and on-the-ground work as well, of course. However I have comments and concerns about how the budget might affect the directorate.
I begin with active transport—walking and cycling. My colleague Ms Bresnan will discuss matters relating to other forms of transport. The issue here, of course, is that funding is going down for active transport. Investing in active transport makes getting around Canberra easier, cheaper, safer and more sustainable. It means investing in things like footpaths, lighting, signage, separated bike lanes, bike racks and good, people-friendly urban design.
At the beginning of this Assembly the Greens negotiated a significant new capital works and recurrent funding program for walking and cycling and maintenance, and Canberra is already seeing the benefits of this money in new facilities. A great example is the Civic cycle loop where this construction is finally starting. But after
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