Page 3938 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 29 November 2022

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Leave not granted.

MADAM SPEAKER: Mr Hanson, you will withdraw or you will be named.

Mr Hanson: Madam Speaker, you called on me to move a motion or I would be named, and I did move a motion.

MADAM SPEAKER: I said you have a chance—

Mr Hanson: I sought leave to move a motion.

MADAM SPEAKER: Resume your seat for a moment. Yes, in hindsight, I should have just named you, in actual fact. So take that one for the team! We will move on, but consider yourself warned, Mr Hanson. I would just remind everybody about parliamentary language. These are substantive matters and an interjection and then a motion on the fly on the floor is really not acceptable in my eyes for this sort of motion.

Transport Canberra—electric buses

MS CLAY: My question is to the minister for transport. Minister, in response to a question on notice from annual reports hearings in October 2022, I saw that the intended start date for the leased electric buses and leased lower emissions diesel buses to replace Canberra’s old orange Renault buses was meant to be July 2022, but now it will not be until January 2023. Can you tell me why this is the case, and can you run through some of the challenges TCCS has faced in procuring these newer buses?

MR STEEL: We have said that we expected to receive the leased electric buses when we made the announcement of contracting with the delivery partners before the end of the year, and we are expecting them to arrive in a matter of days. I am looking forward to making that announcement. That will help us to retire some of the DDA non-compliant Renault orange buses, which many people in Canberra are familiar with. We have been working hard to reach that deadline.

MS CLAY: Minister, are you expecting these procurement challenges to impact the plans for the 50 zero emissions buses that will be on our roads in this financial year?

MR STEEL: I do not think there have been very significant procurement challenges in relation to the buses themselves. We know that there is much more to transitioning to zero emissions than just the buses themselves. It includes the electrical infrastructure required, and skilling up the mechanics to work on those buses. We are very confident about getting these first electric vehicles in our fleet, and we are continuing to undertake the procurement for delivering our promise to buy 90 electric buses. That procurement is still in train, and there is no suggestion at this point that it is delayed.

MR BRADDOCK: Minister, when will all 26 of the leased lower emissions diesel buses be in operation?


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