Page 2937 - Week 09 - Thursday, 13 August 2015
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and a more reliable sense of when their bus is going to show up. Coupled with improvements like the NXTBUS service, we really are improving the passenger experience for those that use ACTION.
It is fair to say that the patronage does not reflect the aspirations of ACTION. Again we are seeing signs of that improving. One of the key challenges for ACTION is that there are plenty of people who are willing to criticise the service. What I find is that those people who use the service generally are very complimentary about it. Other people who never use the service are highly critical of it. It is a bit of a generalisation but it is one that I find fairly consistently is true. I would encourage people who perhaps have not tried the service for many years to give it a go. For some people it is incredibly convenient. Obviously, for people who have a lot of driving around to do, and if they have to go to numerous different places in a day, catching a bus is not going to be practical. Certainly, for a range of people, I think they would be pleasantly surprised by what a great service it is.
Moving on from ACTION, an important budget element that will provide for the safety of Canberrans during our bushfire season is $9.2 million to aid the ACT government in meeting standards and strategies specified in version 3 of the strategic bushfire management plan. The new plan requires an increase in active fire management and is consistent with reducing the ACT’s vulnerability to bushfire.
The budget also addresses the need to manage the catchment area of the enlarged Cotter Dam and ensure the quality of our drinking water. As I informed the Assembly on Tuesday, $2.7 million in funding will implement a wide variety of programs to protect the expanded catchment area over the next four years. This will include managing pest plants and animals such as pine wildlings, blackberry, rabbits and foxes, in order to reduce environmental pressure on native plant species which minimise soil erosion and river sedimentation. Two new positions will be created to undertake land management works in the catchment.
I was particularly pleased to announce a contribution of $900,000 towards the extension of the predator-proof fence which will allow for the expansion of the Mulligans Flat woodland sanctuary. This is one of a range of offset programs and will support the recovery of reintroduced species such as the eastern bettong. It is through these initiatives that the government will protect the environment, provide the community with the services that are most important to them and ensure that our infrastructure remains amongst the best in Australia.
What members can see from that is that the remit of TAMS is incredibly broad. There is a lot to do. As I said at the start, I know TAMS staff take a great deal of pride in their role in looking after this city and making it a great place in which to live. There are always pressures, and our expectations in this city are very high, as they should be. I travel around a bit, and I always get letters from people saying, “Such and such a place is different,” and blah, blah. I go to plenty of places that are well below the standard of Canberra. I think those people would feel very lucky to have the standards we have in this city. So whilst there will be places that at times could do with a bit more effort, I can assure members that TAMS seeks to be very responsive.
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