Page 3546 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 18 September 2019
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MR RAMSAY: Again, in relation to the way the government works, it is not necessarily I or my office that works with the Human Rights Commission. That is one of the reasons why in governments we have directorates. Directorates do a lot of the work—
Mr Coe: Point of order, Madam Speaker.
MADAM SPEAKER: Resume your seat, minister. Point of order.
Mr Coe: Again, my point of order relates to standing order 118(a) and 118(b). The specific question was: did you or anyone in your office. We are not talking about what is the process for seeking advice. We are simply asking whether he or someone in his office for whom he is directly responsible sought advice from the Human Rights Commission.
MADAM SPEAKER: Minister Ramsay, there is probably a straightforward answer to that if you can provide it.
MR RAMSAY: Indeed, thank you, Madam Speaker. No, I did not and not to my knowledge did anyone in my office seek specific advice in relation to that from the Human Rights Commission. However, I do note that that does not mean in any way that the Human Rights Commission was not consulted or involved in any of the considerations as the government went about its work.
Light rail—stage 2
MS CODY: My question is to the Minister for Transport. Can the minister advise the Assembly on the progress of light rail stage 2 to Woden?
MR STEEL: I thank Ms Cody for her question and her interest in making sure that light rail comes down to Woden. Of course, building on the success that we have seen with the Gungahlin to city light rail route, with the project coming in under budget and passenger levels reaching levels that we were not expecting until 2021, we are now getting on with the job of delivering the next stage of our city-wide light rail network, starting with building the north-south spine of the network from Gungahlin to Woden.
The government has recently approved the business case for stage 2A, the extension of light rail from the city to Commonwealth Park, marking the start of negotiations with Canberra Metro to deliver the project. By starting the work on stage 2A now the government is capitalising on the jobs and expertise created through the stage 1 construction phase as we continue to work with the commonwealth government on the necessary approvals for light rail to progress through the parliamentary triangle. With work expected to begin on the Commonwealth Park extension as early as next year, subject to approvals, we will continue with progressing the more complex approvals for stage 2B, linking Commonwealth Park to Woden town centre, delivering light rail to Woden residents as soon as possible.
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