Page 282 - Week 01 - Thursday, 27 February 2014
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It is also important to remember that the public hearings will be an opportunity not only for opposition members but also for government members. Labor MLAs would also be able to use the additional hearings to request information and make suggestions.
The case in favour of my motion is straightforward. We need more scrutiny of this light rail project. I believe that ACT taxpayers want MLAs to scrutinise this project and I would like to do all I can to ensure that their money is properly spent.
MR CORBELL (Molonglo—Attorney-General, Minister for Police and Emergency Services, Minister for Workplace Safety and Industrial Relations and Minister for the Environment and Sustainable Development) (12.07): I thank Mr Coe for bringing this motion forward today. I must say I am very surprised by Mr Coe’s request that the capital metro project be referred to the Standing Committee on Planning, Environment and Territory and Municipal Services for public hearings twice a year, in addition, of course, to the two times a year that members could already ask questions of the agency through the estimates and annual reports process.
I am surprised because if Mr Coe was seriously much more interested in understanding more about this project, I would have expected more questions from him right here in the Legislative Assembly. Yet there has been very little interest from Mr Coe on this project. The government is constantly taking opportunities to keep the Assembly and the public updated on the progress of this project. In fact, only yesterday I was asked by Mr Gentleman to provide an update on the progress.
At the end of last year the government put forward a motion on the benefits of light rail, but Mr Coe did not even contribute to the debate. In fact, the Liberal Party only had one speaker on this motion. Mr Coe clearly is not interested in the details. Mr Coe would rather make up his own figures and try to derail this important project for our city. In fact, if Mr Coe had such an overwhelming and active interest in needing to be informed and kept up to date on this project, I would have expected that he would have approached my office and asked for a briefing from the project director of the Capital Metro Agency on the project.
I have not received a single request to date from any opposition MLA for a briefing on this project—not one, Madam Speaker; not one. The shadow attorney-general approached my office: “Can I please have a meeting with the Chief Justice? Can I please have a meeting with the Chief Police Officer? Can I please have a briefing from corrections?” He is doing his job, but what is the shadow minister, Mr Coe, doing? Is he going out of his way to try and find out a bit of information, do his research, speak to the officials or ask for a briefing? Is he doing his job? No, he is not doing his job. There has not been a single briefing; there has not been single request from Mr Coe to meet with the Capital Metro Agency. He has not even met with them. He has not even asked to be briefed. That is extraordinary from a man who professes how important it is to be kept up to date and informed on this project.
This is a very important project for our city. The government is working to attract jobs and investment. We are working to make our city stronger and more resilient. Only this week we saw reports of the region’s high unemployment when it comes to young
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