Page 2757 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 16 September 2014
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hospital so full it is not safe, and it has an impact on mortality rates. That is inescapable, and that is a reflection of this government’s priorities over the last 13 years.
In education, we have the same sorts of reports. We have schools, particularly at the lower grades—and ironically in areas where this government previously closed schools—that are so full that they are bursting at the seams. Kids are being put into temporary accommodation and the infrastructure is being degraded. That is the legacy of this government.
All members of the opposition—I know, Madam Assistant Speaker, that you are very active in getting out into the community—get out there and talk to people about their local infrastructure. When you go down to the local shops and talk to people in Tuggeranong—if Mr Rattenbury ever gets out of the inner north and goes down to Tuggeranong—Belconnen, Weston Creek and Woden about how they see their decaying infrastructure and eroding services they will tell you plenty about the priorities of this government.
Mr Coe: Particularly in Gungahlin.
MR HANSON: Particularly in Gungahlin; indeed. That is a good point, Mr Coe.
Mr Rattenbury interjecting—
MR HANSON: There are interjections from Mr Rattenbury. He is engaged when it is Gungahlin because he thinks that is where his tram is going. There was no comment when it was Weston Creek or Belconnen or Tuggeranong. He has written them off. All Mr Rattenbury cares about is light rail and where it goes to and where it is coming from.
There is a cost to what Mr Rattenbury and Mr Corbell are pursuing—a 90 per cent renewable target and 40 per cent carbon emission targets. What this means is solar and it means wind. We have seen just today the impact that your wind policies are having on people in our region. We have seen previously in motions brought forward by Mr Wall the impact of solar on the people of Uriarra. But there is also an impact on everybody when they turn on their lights, because the wholesale price for electricity in this town is significantly cheaper than solar or wind. In fact, the advice that I have, on good authority, is that solar power, in the grid, in the feed-in, is about double that of the wholesale price on the market and for wind it is about four times. That flows through into everybody’s power bills.
The final point I want to talk about is light rail. Essentially, I will finish where Mr Wall started. There is no doubt that this is something that is going to be a major issue in our community. Of all the projects that this government has embarked on, I think this is probably the one that is the greatest exemplar of its priorities as opposed to the community’s priorities. This is a tram—despite the glossies that get put out and the spin—that is going to service, based on the government’s figures, 3,500 people in peak. That is the number of people that are using the bus, and that is less than one per cent of the population.
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