Page 3058 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 14 August 2013
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MS BERRY (Ginninderra) (6.07): I support Minister Rattenbury’s amendment to Mr Coe’s motion. I thank Mr Rattenbury for proposing this amendment as I believe it corrects some of the deficiencies that exist in the motion Mr Coe presented today. Overall, Mr Coe’s motion gives us an insight into the relentless pursuit of division which exists in most of those opposite and which been reflected throughout today. The opposition think temporary speed limits on roadworks and construction sites are something to be done away with because they can be annoying to motorists. These temporary limits are there to protect the safety of those who work on roads and construction sites. Just because Mr Coe cannot see a TAMS or construction worker on the road does not mean they are not there or that conditions are safe to be driven on at higher speeds.
Instead of recognising the concerns of working people and the responsibility we have as motorists to put safety before convenience, Mr Coe wants to pit motorists against workers. I believe this shows a lack of concern for many people who work in municipal services or the construction industry.
Turning to my backyard at west Belconnen now, we have another example of this relentless need to divide the community. Yes, the speed humps on Spofforth Street have been an issue of contention in Holt and the surrounding suburbs. The speed humps were installed some years ago as a result of significant speeding and serious accidents occurring on the street. When I was living on the street one of those accidents—and I am glad that you drew attention to the serious problems of speeding on the street—led to the death of a young child as well as a motorcyclist down as well as cars in people’s front yards.
I can see how people who regularly use streets in Holt do not like the speed humps, and I can see why many people who live on Spofforth Street love the quiet that came with the speed humps. Clearly, finding a solution required community engagement by government, and this is why I welcome the work of Minister Rattenbury and TAMS, who went out into the Holt community and surrounding suburbs and spoke to the residents and road users and have come up with a sensible proposal which, I think, will improve traffic flow and discourage speeding.
Having just spent the last couple of weeks visiting residents in Holt after this announcement, I can say that the residents I have met with are quite pleased with the proposed changes and the engagement with them by TAMS. Out of this process, I think there are a couple of lessons for Mr Coe on how to engage part of our community and achieve a good result. Rather than trying to divide the community, Mr Coe could have done the responsible thing and been a leader by bringing the community together to work towards coming up with sensible solutions that everybody could have lived with.
You cannot make everybody happy, and we all know that. But by having conversations with residents instead of grandstanding, you can reach consensus. Instead, Mr Coe chose petty politicking over decent and good community leadership. He chose to pursue division and not the solution. These are not the qualities of a community leader.
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