Page 4678 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 27 November 2019
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this strategy is a real highlight of the year, from my perspective. Importantly, in the context of this debate, it includes several actions around improving public transport.
In conclusion, as I said last night, one of the positive things about network 19 has been that all three parties in the Assembly have been united in calling for a better bus system. That is positive compared to some of the previous words that have been said on this subject. I will not go any further than that.
As I have said, network 19 is a mixed bag, with winners and losers. Miss Burch’s motion, though, would effectively scrap network 19. That would really be bad for people who have had better services. That includes some people in my electorate, but it also includes a lot of people in Miss Burch’s electorate. The overall patronage has actually gone up. We should remember that. Overall patronage has not gone down, although it has gone down in some places. We need to keep the good and not throw out the baby with the bathwater. The way forward is to fix the problems while keeping the gains.
Mr Steel’s amendment is better than the motion on this, but it does miss a key point, which is to fix network 19 weekday patronage from Woden Valley, Belconnen and Tuggeranong. My amendment looks at that. My amendment will see the government looking at that and doing it. I urge all members to vote for my amendment so that residents in these areas can have a better bus service, just like the ones for people in areas like Weston Creek and just like the improved service that is happening for people who are fortunate enough to live close to the light rail.
MRS KIKKERT (Ginninderra) (5.01): I thank Miss C Burch for bringing this motion before the Assembly today. Many Belconnen residents have shared with me the very same points that this motion raises. In fact, frustration with the chaos and dysfunction that this government has needlessly introduced into the territory’s bus network is something that I hear about regularly in my electorate of Ginninderra.
I strongly suspect that Minister Steel and those opposite, clueless about how to fix these issues, are holding out for people to just get accustomed to a severely diminished public transport system. This is not going to happen, however. Canberrans know what their commutes looked like before Labor and the Greens closed 752 bus stops, cancelled express commuter services for residents in Tuggeranong and Belconnen, and axed buses for schoolchildren. They remember how long it took to get to work, to school or to a doctor’s appointment one year ago and they know how long it takes now.
Earlier this month I spent a morning meeting with Canberrans who live in one west Belconnen neighbourhood. One of the main concerns raised that morning was frustration with changes to the public transport system. These residents know personally that these changes have not been improvements, and any attempt to label them as such comes across as Orwellian doublespeak.
One resident, who works in Belconnen, explained that it now takes her 45 minutes to get there from her home. She would prefer to use public transport, she said—and in fact she used to—but now she drives her private car since she can do so in one-third
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