Page 1216 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 7 May 2014
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prepared to pay $614 million to keep Shane Rattenbury in the cabinet because Shane Rattenbury knows this is a magnificent thing for him electorally—or he thinks that is the case. There does not seem to be any other argument coming from that side.
The other point that Mrs Jones, a great advocate for Gungahlin, makes is that when you look at where this government is struggling to resonate, is struggling to connect with the electorate, Gungahlin clearly is a vulnerability. So this is about political expediency to try to sweeten the deal for Shane Rattenbury in the inner north and the people of Gungahlin.
The problem—and this is where the government will come unstuck—is that the good folk of Gungahlin are pretty smart. When they see what this is costing, when they start to understand what this means, when they realise that they have to drive to Mitchell to get onto that train if they are doing the park and ride, when they realise the difference between what they have already got with buses and what they will get with light rail, the people of Gungahlin will be saying, “Hang on. This is not what we’re signing up to here.”
I think that the government have made a very bad decision here. I think that they have decided to pursue something for ideological reasons. $614 million: the consequences of this will reverberate for decades. Our children, if not our grandchildren, will inherit this debt that is being generated by the government essentially for electoral benefit. Really, when it comes down to it, it will be of no benefit to the people of the ACT. The broader ACT across all the other suburbs—Tuggeranong, Weston Creek, Belconnen, Woden and so on—is not going to get any benefit. It will be Shane Rattenbury who is the winner. (Time expired.)
MRS JONES (Molonglo) (4.32): I am pleased to add my voice in support Mr Coe’s motion calling for putting off the light rail construction and improving private and public transport between Gungahlin and the city. It is a strange sort of a marriage that the Greens and Labor have concocted to form government in the ACT. It seems that the glory box prepared for this wedding is the light rail development.
Mr Rattenbury was wondering about the ceremony and how it would go ahead. After the election they sat down and negotiated. It seems that, at any price, in that glory box will be a train set—a gold-plated train set. The price that we pay is a lack of roads infrastructure in places like Gungahlin and a lack of bus infrastructure in places like Weston Creek.
The marriage has become so strong now that Mr Rattenbury is being given his speaking notes from the Chief Minister’s office. This morning after the Chief Minister left and Mr Rattenbury came in, he was using the same lines that the Chief Minister was—workshopped lines about Mr Hanson’s speech. It seems that party room discussions on the other side are very productive and that speaking notes are given out for all to follow. Mr Rattenbury, in his commitment to this union, has decided to follow the script.
I do not think Ms Le Couteur, if she was elected here, would be so easily bought. The plan to build light rail from Gungahlin to the city at this point in time is an
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