Page 2814 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 13 August 2019
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
and identify options for the diversion of organic waste—specifically food and garden waste from landfill—and will deliver an initial food waste avoidance campaign pilot. This is a good idea. We support the concept of waste minimisation. We have a history of doing so, and we have heard about that at some length in this place over the past couple of months. We are looking forward to hearing more about it and reviewing the feasibility study and business case.
I will touch on transport and buses very briefly because my colleague Miss Burch will talk about it at length. I want to say how surprised I was to hear Ms Le Couteur talk about the success of network 19, because I can assure you that my experience in Tuggeranong is the opposite. I have been inundated with complaints about buses in Tuggeranong suburbs. One person has told me that the changes have benefitted them; the others have all been completely disadvantaged. They feel isolated, especially elderly people who now may have to catch taxis. Whilst they appreciate the flexibus, that is not always suitable.
As one person pointed out to me, the flexibus usually picks up in the morning and does the return trips in the afternoon. It is challenging to get the flexibus for afternoon appointments and until this point you have to book the flexibus a bit ahead of time. I understand the government is looking at ways to improve that and make more dynamic bookings of the flexibus available. I look forward to that happening, as would my constituents. But I reiterate something I have said: why does a tram from Gungahlin to the city mean having to cut buses in Tuggeranong? People genuinely do not understand why that is the case.
To conclude, people I speak to and who write to me and contact me every day do not understand why their rates are going up when they feel their basic local services are going down. They feel there is more litter around the place, there are more dog attacks, and the bus network has made them isolated. They do not understand why they are paying more but are getting less.
MISS C BURCH (Kurrajong) (5.08): The 2019-20 budget has been a disappointing one. It has been a disappointing budget for Canberrans, who expected an integrated, reliable public transport network. It has been disappointing for schoolchildren and parents and it has been disappointing for the elderly and less mobile. As Ms Lawder has spoken about extensively, it has been disappointing particularly for the people on the south side of Canberra who rely on public transport to get around.
Without any significant new spending initiatives to improve transport services, Canberrans have instead been left with more frustration, more delays and buses that never show up, a true demonstration of how incompetent and out of touch the government is with this city. But, to add insult to injury, we have not seen any apology made or effort undertaken by the new minister to fix any of these issues. Instead, what we have seen is an overtly political budget from a government looking to shift blame and cover up their failures.
It was revealed in estimates hearings that Transport Canberra has received thousands of complaints about the new bus network. I tabled petitions earlier this year with signatures from over 7,000 Canberrans who are frustrated by the changes, who are
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video