Page 510 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 19 February 2020
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have been talking about today, and that is the fact that all of these problems with the bus network had been raised prior to the rollout of the new network.
We knew prior to the rollout that journeys from Tuggeranong would take longer. We knew that the lack of services between Barton, Russell, Woden and the city were a problem. We knew that there were not enough services to the Canberra Hospital. Back in August 2018, hundreds of residents signed a petition calling for services to be maintained between Palmerston, Crace, Nicholls and Casey, and Casey to Belconnen. Again, hundreds of residents had already raised issues about the lack of services for Giralang, Kaleen, McKellar and Mitchell. We also knew that weekend services would continue to be a problem.
This is all a little bit too Yes, Minister, because this government has cut many services, bus stops, weekend services and dedicated school bus services and has only now, in an election year, restored a fraction of those services. Yet the government expects Canberrans to be thankful. The minister is not listening to the Canberra Liberals, either. That is not at all surprising, given that he has not listened to the 13,000 pieces of feedback the government received during consultation, the 10,000 petition signatories or the dozens of media and news articles written during that time. He is not listening to Canberrans. He is not listening to the Canberra Liberals. Ironically, the most passion we see from the minister in this place is when he talks about the Canberra Liberals’ apparent plans to privatise our buses. As I said last Tuesday—I will say it again, because the minister still does not get it—the Canberra Liberals have no plans to privatise bus services and will not do so.
Again, it is the government which has privatised public transport. The government privatised light rail services. The only person in this place who needs to come clean about having misled, misinformed and deceived Canberrans is the minister, with his continuous claims that he has listened to them. This minister is incapable of listening. He is incapable of admitting failure and he is incapable of apologising.
Ms Cheyne: Point of order. Mr Assistant Speaker, I seek your advice as to whether the word “deceived” is unparliamentary, given that it seems to have the same connotations as “misrepresenting” and “lying”.
MR ASSISTANT SPEAKER: Yes. Let me check that.
Ms Cheyne: If not, perhaps you could make a ruling.
MR ASSISTANT SPEAKER: Having consulted the previous rulings, I am of the view that it is unparliamentary language and I ask that you withdraw it.
MISS C BURCH: I withdraw it.
MR ASSISTANT SPEAKER: Thank you.
MISS C BURCH: Every time we raise concerns that constituents have raised with us, the minister dismisses them. When residents raise concerns directly with the government through the consultation processes, he dismisses them. Today has been no
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