Page 2752 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 16 September 2014
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backing the Northbourne Avenue revitalisation. It is about improving our urban density and making sure that we can increase the number of people living close to services and infrastructure along that corridor.
It is about using that land in a much smarter way. It is about generating jobs. It is very clear from the work that has been done to date that there will be 3½ thousand direct jobs related to the project. You will not see another project in this city that will generate those sorts of jobs, particularly at a time when we are seeing our job opportunities reduced, particularly for young people and those that are in the unskilled trades, who will be able to have some job opportunities that have not been previously on offer. That should not be diminished as it is one of the good, solid outcomes of proceeding with light rail.
We believe that the community deserves this type of infrastructure spend, and also that this is money well spent in terms of the future of our city. We will continue to argue for it, just as those opposite will continue to argue against it and have no alternative about what they would do. It is very clear that the do-nothing approach, whether it be in health, education or public transport, is not one of the options that presents itself to anyone who wants to reasonably plan for Canberra’s future.
We know from the data that has been provided to us that we are not at a crisis point, like some states get to in terms of public transport, where people demand a response from their government, where they campaign for a response from their government. We are actually in a good position. We are doing that planning ahead. With the infrastructure, if it commences, say, in 2021, we will actually meet some of the challenges. The warning signs are there. Congestion on that corridor is going to get worse. It is real, it has an impact on the economy and we need to be planning for that. I will be interested to hear at some point what the opposition’s plans for that will be. If they are opposed to capital metro, what are they going to do about those congestion issues?
Returning to Mr Fluffy, the fourth pillar of our priorities, we will continue to work with the commonwealth to ensure that we get a good outcome there. I hope the outcome is one that lessens the impact on the ACT budget, but whatever happens we need to make sure that we prioritise those families as well. (Time expired.)
MR RATTENBURY (Molonglo) (3:46): I welcome the opportunity to discuss this matter today and I thank Mr Wall for bringing it forward because it gives us a chance to articulate some of the priorities that each of us sees for this city. I am certainly happy to talk about mine.
Going into the last election, the Greens were very clear that we wanted a city that was sustainable, we wanted a city that was liveable—one that had a diversified economy that was looking at the knowledge and creative sectors of the economy, at sustainability sectors, a city that was about healthy lifestyles, one where people really valued living in this city. In a more descriptive sense, they were the values and the ideas that we took to the last election.
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