Page 2983 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 15 August 2018
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(c) release details of how Transport Canberra will manage the flow of students at interchanges, and consult on these arrangements with peak bodies and parent groups before the 2019 school year commences;
(d) include in the final community consultation report average patronage for each current Xpresso bus service; and
(e) release any details of additional infrastructure works that will be delivered to facilitate the new network by November 2018 to ensure local communities are well informed of these changes before the new bus network commences.”.
The amendment outlines these issues and presents some facts. It also calls on the government to consider the feedback received, which closed on Sunday of this week. It calls on the government to work with a number of groups, as Ms Le Couteur said earlier, such as ACTCOSS, particularly to consider ways to improve our flexible bus service and expand community bus services; to release the details of how we will work with schools and students at interchanges; to consider how we will be dealing with the issue of Xpressos and providing data on the average patronage for Xpressos, which was a question on notice put to me a couple of weeks ago; and also to release additional information on any infrastructure improvements that we will make, particularly around key interchanges. I acknowledge, particularly, the comments from the Weston Creek Community Council on that.
I would appreciate reference to some of the facts from the Canberra Liberals and I encourage them to stop some of the scaremongering. We will listen to the community’s views.
MR PARTON (Brindabella) (4.03): With regard to this motion on the bus timetable changes, I think that when the minister talks about community consultation we have a vision that community consultation involves a process whereby you talk to the community and ask them about a particular policy area before you have made a decision on it. That is where we have fallen over in that space. You can throw your arms up in the air as much as you want, Ms Cheyne, but it is very clear that there will be some extreme changes made and that it is not a case of asking people how they would like to see things changed; it is telling them how it is going to change and how it is going to be.
As with the clubs’ community contributions debacle, the voices in the community against this are very loud and there are many of them. We all know that. I have had dozens of conversations with community members about these proposed changes. I am going to mention just two of them this afternoon.
I visited Tom and Leslie in Chisholm. Leslie is blind. Tom has bone cancer. They rely on the bus to get everywhere. They walked me through and showed me how far they have to walk to the bus as it is now. It is very, very close. They then showed me on a map where their proposed nearest bus stop would be under the changes. They had to show me on a map because they are not capable of walking to that bus stop. They cannot walk there. It is just too far for them. This is Tom’s and Leslie’s ability to get around, and their quality of life. It is not a scare campaign. It just will be affected
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