Page 3732 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 28 October 2015
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months based on customer feedback, based on tracking of the buses from GPS timing and based on driver feedback. And we have seen that: since network 14 was introduced in September 2014 we saw an adjustment in May 2015 and we were due to have another adjustment about now. Members are well aware that there were problems in presenting that network. That is a very unfortunate thing. There were some good further adjustments—
Mr Coe interjecting—
MADAM DEPUTY SPEAKER: Mr Coe, if you interject again, you’ll be warned.
MR RATTENBURY: There were some good further adjustments to that network that would have driven further on-time improvements and better customer experiences. The new weekend network came in as scheduled on 17 and 18 October and will continue to deliver improvements over the weekend timing. I did want to clarify that point because I have been quite clear that we believe we now have the network architecture in place and any adjustments from here will not be “big changes”, as Mr Coe sought to characterise them, but continuous improvement on the network because that is what I am committed to, that is what the Canberra community wants and that is what the government is delivering.
It is disappointing for me and for a large proportion of Canberrans to see that we have a local Liberal Party with a contrasting view on the need for significant investment in public transport and the way that the government is going about it. The shorthand way to describe it would be “the 1950s Tony Abbott view of the world”. Our local Liberals may have been watching federal question time last week, or perhaps they saw the news, in which the new Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, was challenged to explain one difference between his administration and that of his predecessor Tony Abbott. Malcolm Turnbull happily answered that question and singled out one key difference. The key difference, he said, was his support for public transport infrastructure.
Mr Turnbull went on to say that this is a very significant shift. “It has been very much welcomed across Australia and we are looking at urban infrastructure without discriminating as to whether it is road or rail”, the prime minister said. Since his ascendency, Mr Turnbull has been quite vocal about the benefits of public transport and the need to build livable cities. In fact he quickly established a new portfolio of cities and the built environment. He appointed Jamie Briggs to be the Minister for Cities and the Built Environment, whom members may remember is the same minister—
Government members interjecting—
MR RATTENBURY: You might well say, “Hear, hear”, because he is the same minister who said the Canberra Liberals’ approach to light rail was “economic lunacy”. That is what he said. So when these guys cheer for him I am pleased that they are taking note of what Jamie Briggs is saying and I hope they take further note, because he is very clear that their approach to ripping up the contracts for light rail is “economic lunacy”.
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