Page 1944 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 3 June 2015
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Duplicating Ashley Drive to Johnson Drive was an election commitment of ACT Labor in 2012. The ACT government also publicly released drawings indicating duplication to Johnson Drive, as well as promoting the duplication to Johnson Drive at a meeting with the Tuggeranong Community Council.
To compound matters, in a typical way the duplication of Ashley Drive is running over budget and over time, despite part of the road not even being done. ACT Labor promised this road would be completed by the end of the 2015-16 financial year at a cost of $19.6 million. Instead, the Chief Minister and the Minister for Roads and Parking announced only last week that the duplication will commence shortly, with the duplication not set to be completed until 2018, some two years after it was supposed to be completed, and at a cost of $24.6 million, some $5 million more than was promised.
To summarise, Tuggeranong residents will now pay more for a duplication that will not actually be a full duplication. It sounds familiar, and I am sure Mrs Dunne, my colleague, would see the resemblance of this to another road serving the northern suburbs, a road which I will come to very briefly. That is yet another parallel in Gungahlin from this government.
Gundaroo Drive is another vital road for Canberra, and especially those in Gungahlin. Again I am pleased to see that this road is at least on the government’s radar. However, as revealed yesterday, the ACT government will only commit to duplicating Gundaroo Drive from Gungahlin Drive to Mitchell Drive. Once again, the ACT government is only building half the road.
I look forward to the reaction of residents and voters of Gungahlin when they are told, “Actually, we are not doing the duplication of Gundaroo Drive south of Gungahlin Drive through to the Barton Highway.” I look forward to seeing the response of people in Palmerston, Crace, Nicholls and elsewhere in Gungahlin when they are told, “Actually, the government do not think it is a priority. We would rather go ahead with light rail.”
People are paying more for their parking, more for their fees and charges, more for their rates, more in every form of taxation, it seems, to get half a road in Tuggeranong and not even a quarter of a road in Gungahlin. As my motion today states, I call on the ACT government to commit to a further full duplication of Gundaroo Drive from Mirrabei Drive all the way through to the Barton Highway. This duplication is required.
The ACT government acknowledge this, which is why they completed a detailed design drawing for the duplication in October 2013. However, 20 months later the ACT government cannot find the budget and simply do not prioritise it amongst everything else they are doing.
The final part of my motion calls on the ACT government to build a flyover of the Barton Highway intersection. This Barton Highway flyover is another vital piece of infrastructure that Canberrans will need now and going into the future. It is widely acknowledged that this flyover is a long-term solution, and that is why we should build it now. It is essential infrastructure.
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