Page 2939 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 14 August 2019
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job of delivering what the community is asking them to do. Ms Lawder is going to be moving an amendment which will see the minister reporting back to the Assembly this year. That is a very generous window of opportunity for the work that should have already been done and an outcome that should have been implemented when the upgrades were completed. It should have been moved on sooner rather than later.
It is really quite galling that we have removed all the amenity of having a bus stop on the street, which I do not think anyone thinks is a detriment, when all the negative aspects of having the buses running down the street are still there.
Mrs Jones: Without the benefit of actually being able to get on one.
MR WALL: You now have buses running down the street without any bus stops. It is just bizarre. At least previously there was an alternative to having to get on or off your bus inside the bus interchange, which to some people is a confronting place to head into. Some safety concerns have been raised in other debates.
I will just touch on the comments of Ms Le Couteur and her wish to be able to support the opposition’s calls here. Again there is the flip-flop and the wringing of the hands, saying, “I think I have to side with the government here.” She is a cosy coalition partner of the Labor government. If she is represented as anything other than that, it is a misrepresentation of the truth. She is a member, free to make her mind up. She should not blame other causes for her own personal decision not to support the community’s calls, which are reflected here in the opposition’s motion.
MS LAWDER (Brindabella) (5.00): I will speak to the amendment. In some ways, I was vaguely heartened by Mr Steel’s speech. He was quite measured and had some interesting points to make, although he did spend the first five minutes of his speech talking about the stage 2 improvements to Anketell Street, the laneways project et cetera. I thought I had made it quite clear that this was not the point of my motion. This motion is about buses on Anketell Street. It is not about the improvements or the laneway project.
The amendment that has been circulated by Mr Steel shows complete disregard for the people of Tuggeranong. It is taking all of us here for complete mugs if we think this is going to get us the result that we want. Just last week in answer to a question without notice Mr Steel said that the government was consulting before making a decision on whether re-routing is required. Really? We have just all heard about the years of consultation on this project. The government will consult and make a decision about one intersection. We are told that that is going to take yet another 10 months before a report is provided back to the Assembly. It is not before a change is made or roadworks are completed. It is 10 months before we have a report back to the Assembly.
Mr Steel also said that to make the decision would require significant capital investment. There have been millions spent on various road projects around Canberra. What we are talking about here is, in effect, one intersection that would take a tiny fraction of that money if the government had the will. Let us not forget that for more than six months buses have been running along Cowlishaw Street quite successfully.
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