Page 4232 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 23 October 2019
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Another private members’ day and another nonsensical motion from Ms Cody. Had Ms Cody bothered to run this motion past Minister Steel I feel he would have dissuaded her from bringing it to the Assembly today as it just shines a light on the huge failure that is Minister Steel’s public transport network.
When I tried to raise these issues again last sitting week the Canberra Liberals were silenced by a Speaker who thinks we have spent enough time in this place talking about the disaster that is network 19. Ms Cody obviously did not get that memo.
Ms Cody’s claim that the opposition has long-held disdain for public transport is laughable. If Ms Cody had bothered to listen in the chamber or to her constituents over the past year she would realise the only party showing disdain for public transport and, in fact, for the thousands of Canberrans who rely on public transport is ACT Labor.
Ms Cody’s motion notes that roads are an integral component of public transport infrastructure and are necessary for the operation of our rapid bus network. Do you know what else is an integral component of public transport infrastructure and necessary for the operation of our rapid bus network? Buses, bus stops and bus drivers. These three components have been conveniently left out of Ms Cody’s motion because she knows that her transport minister has been unable to provide these things for quite some time now.
Funnily enough, Ms Cody’s motion further notes that Canberrans’ livelihoods are dependent on good access to various transport modes, depending on their commitments and circumstances. This might be the most sensible thing Ms Cody has ever said. Her comments stand, however, in stark contrast to the actions of Minister Steel, who has been hell-bent on leaving Canberrans who live in our outer suburbs stranded by refusing to fix the ongoing issues with network 19. Dedicated school services—cut. Xpresso services—cut. Suburban services—cut. Weekend services—cut. Some 750 bus stops—cut. The former Minister for Transport—cut. The casualty list gets longer and longer, and it is Canberrans who are suffering.
It has now been six months since the commencement of network 19, six months of fewer services, weekend service failures, longer walks, longer commutes and transport chaos. Canberrans up and down our city are fed up not only with these network failings but with the lack of concern shown by ACT Labor to fix these issues. We keep hearing from this indifferent transport minister the same line over and over: patronage is up. Well, that is what you would hope after sinking so much money into a light rail line.
If patronage is the measure on which the ACT Labor-Greens government wish to be judged, it is clear that they are failing the people of Tuggeranong, Woden and Belconnen. In Woden and Tuggeranong patronage is down by five per cent. In Belconnen patronage is down by two per cent, and customer satisfaction across the transport network has plummeted to 62 per cent. Of course, the Labor-Greens government have previously shown very little regard for Canberrans living in our outer suburbs. Why would we expect them to start now? Only yesterday we had a minister in this place going to great lengths to deny that he lives in an outer suburb.
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