Page 2041 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 6 June 2018
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Drive and Kuringa Drive will both be reworked to improve driver safety. Anyone who has tried to navigate these intersections knows how hair-raising it can be, particularly when driving conditions are not ideal like when the sun is setting or during peak hour.
The upgrades will include traffic lights at both intersections as well as additional lanes at the Kuringa Drive intersection to ease congestion and make movements through the intersections much safer. This is the budget announcement the people of Belconnen have been asking for. I know that all Ginninderra MLAs have been listening and that all Ginninderra MLAs are very pleased with the announcement. We have all been working on this in our own ways.
Madam Speaker, you know that it is not all about getting in front of the media. All of us in this place know that most of the work that gets things done is work behind the scenes, and I can speak on behalf of all of the Labor Ginninderra MLAs and the minister about the work we have done in this space working together. I am very proud that we are delivering on this.
Canberrans love our clean, green city. We are proud to be recognised as one of the most livable cities in the whole world, and we want it to stay that way. With this budget, the ACT government is making sure that is the case, delivering growing services for our growing community. More municipal services, more green spaces and more connected town centres will keep Canberra beautiful, encourage active lifestyles and enliven our public spaces.
This budget is providing on-the-ground, tangible, everyday improvements that people will see and feel and they will positively impact the lives of those people—more of everything. I encourage the government to keep up the great work in listening to what our community wants and delivering growing services for our growing city. I commend the motion to the Assembly.
MS LE COUTEUR (Murrumbidgee) (10.32): I was not expecting to be the next speaker but I am delighted to be the next speaker on this motion. I support Ms Cheyne’s motion. One of the reasons is that I am very pleased to be able to say the budget implements a huge number of our parliamentary agreement items. In the city services area the budget has implemented at least seven of our parliamentary agreement items.
It is possible that I have missed one; I apologise. We have not yet had 24 hours to read every single line in budget paper 3. But at this stage of the city services there is obviously planning for light rail stage 2. There is a 12-month extension of free off-peak travel for seniors and certain concession cardholders. There are new bus stops for the new rapid bus routes. There is substantially more money for active travel upgrades around our city, which is great. There is the implementation of the World Health Organisation’s HEAT model for assessing active travel projects, which should lead to long-term, really positive outcomes for Canberra.
It is probably hard to say how important it is to get our transport system—our whole way of living in Canberra—such that we become healthier people just through our everyday life. The rate of obesity in Canberra and Australia as a whole has increased
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