Page 3731 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 28 October 2015
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I did note Mr Coe’s comments, particularly on the MRCagney report, and I was interested in them. He talked about the fact that these reports have been coming for 30 or 40 years, so clearly since before self-government—I assume that is what he meant—and I note that the Liberal Party has been in power during that period as well.
Government members interjecting—
MR RATTENBURY: What this underlines is the difficulty of seeking change, but we have outlined a series of changes. That is why—
Government members interjecting—
MADAM DEPUTY SPEAKER: Mr Coe!
MR RATTENBURY: we commissioned the MRCagney review and are now implementing a range of the recommendations that were suggested by it. I note that at least in the media comments yesterday and on the news last night Mr Coe rattled off a list of things that were in fact all things that the MRCagney review suggested and which the government is now implementing. So, if Mr Coe has got no other policy proposals, he should be very clear about that and he should come out and welcome what the government is doing in implementing a number of the recommendations of the MRCagney review, because it seems that he agrees with them. True politics, honest politics, would see him coming out and saying, “Well, I agree”.
Mr Coe interjecting—
MADAM DEPUTY SPEAKER: Sit down, Mr Rattenbury. Stop the clock, please. Mr Coe, this is not a conversation you are having with Mr Rattenbury across the chamber. Mr Rattenbury is speaking. You will remain silent. Thank you.
MR RATTENBURY: Without encouraging them, what I do take from the interjections—from what I have just heard—is that Mr Coe is in fact saying he agrees with the government’s approach, and if that is the case he should say it that way.
The bottom line is that we need to keep making improvements to ACTION. I have been perfectly upfront about that and I can tell this chamber that we have been making improvements to ACTION. In the past three years we have driven on-time running up from 67 to 79 per cent. That is a measurable improvement that is real, that is concrete and that is improving the experience for our passengers on the ACTION bus network.
I do need to clarify some comments that were made because I think Mr Coe has misunderstood my views on the way the networks are operating. He quoted me as saying that there would be no big changes to the network—I said that last year apparently—and that we were about to make more. What I have made very clear is that I believe that we now have the architecture of the network right; the route structure is right and what will happen from here are minor adjustments. We will seek tweaks to the network and I have been upfront about that. I have also explained to this chamber that we intend to keep bringing along a network update about every six
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