Page 2843 - Week 10 - Tuesday, 13 August 2013
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
national priority. That may be the case. It may be that in the case of all of Australia there are other projects. When it comes to what ranks highly in terms of what the federal government should spend money on, it may be that there are other areas that have more pressing problems. I think anybody who goes to Sydney will see that they have bigger congestion problems than Canberra has.
That does not mean that this project is not important for Canberra. It just means that the federal government does not have it at the top of its priority list. But I think the residents of Gungahlin, who have to deal with congestion, know that something needs to be done about the Northbourne Avenue corridor. They will welcome this. They know that we need to take action, that we cannot just sit back and wash our hands of it, that we have to actually deal with the congestion issues that are facing Canberrans. That does not meant that it is high up the federal government’s priority list, but it is a priority for the ACT government to deal with. That is why I am committed to getting on with light rail, because we have to start to address the congestion that is building in this growing city.
This city, for better or for worse, is growing rapidly. There are more cars on the road now than there were if you go back a decade. Anyone who has lived in this city for a while knows that Canberra is becoming more congested. We need to take action. That does not mean that the federal government is going to have it at the top of their list, but the ACT government should be taking it seriously. That is what this government is doing in partnership. We are getting on with dealing with the congestion issues that Canberra faces.
I think that there is plenty of scope to debate the budget over the coming days. This motion simply reflects the fact that the Liberal Party disagree with the budget. I agree with the budget. I think it delivers many of the things that Canberrans need. I have spoken about it. I spoke at the in-principle stage about the broad Greens’ view on that. In the coming days as the responsible portfolio minister I will address the areas that I have responsibility for during the debate. But this is a budget that starts to set Canberra up for the future in some of the key infrastructure projects we need, as well as delivering the day-to-day services this city needs on an ongoing basis.
With those few remarks, and mindful of the fact that we are about to spend a whole lot more time on the budget, I simply indicate that I will not be supporting the motion today, and that I do have confidence in the Treasurer’s delivery of this budget.
MR HANSON (Molonglo—Leader of the Opposition) (11.49): I would like to commend Mr Smyth for bringing this motion before the Assembly. It is, everybody would agree, a very important motion, and Mr Smyth has made the case. He focused on the substance of what is being debated today and avoided the sort of personal smear that we saw from the members of the Labor Party, which was quite disappointing. I would also like to commend Mr Coe. As the Chief Minister says, the opposition does have significant concerns with light rail. I think that Mr Coe has articulated those well. It is up to the government to make the case for light rail and to date they have failed to do so.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video