Page 586 - Week 04 - Thursday, 29 June 1989
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issue is quite urgent as the planned deadline for the VFT is 1995, which makes for a tight schedule for a project of such a size. Any more meandering on the Government's part could only serve to make such a deadline harder to achieve if the project is to go ahead.
The benefits to Canberra, and to Australia, from the VFT are there for the taking. Canberra has been nominated as the administrative and control centre for the train, and it would be Canberra that would gain employment and tourist opportunities from such a development, with a projected 35 trains passing through the capital every day carrying up to six million passengers a year. Australia-wide the project is estimated to create about 25,000 jobs. If Canberra is able to play its anticipated central role in the scheme, many of those jobs would naturally accrue to the region.
The Government has already recognised, I am pleased to say, the importance of jobs and of the private sector. The VFT will place Canberra only one hour's travelling time from Sydney by rail. The benefits from this alone would be substantial. For instance, the chief executive of the VFT joint venture has suggested that this might lead to a commuter-led real estate boom in Canberra.
The VFT could contribute to tourism in our region by making access to our attractions more convenient to tourists, and this certainly is very important for the tourism industry. I might point out that the VFT holds other advantages as well. One is that it is a cost-effective system which makes the present rail system pale in comparison.
Another is that it would improve safety on our roads and also help to conserve Australia's diminishing reserves of liquid hydrocarbon. There are a host of benefits that the VFT could give Canberra and I stress that the Government make its view known as soon as possible. It is vital that it does so.
Presiding Officer
MR COLLAERY: Mr Speaker, I rise to make two points to the Chair and for the Chair. The first matter concerns the fact that I used the word "charade" this morning in debate to describe this chamber. Mr Speaker, I will do my best not to use that term again, and I hope that there will be no circumstance where it will be used. But I do wish to say in that context and in the context of your comments, Mr Speaker, a day or two ago, when you took umbrage at the fact that words attributed to me, which included that a request for legal opinion had been swept aside, that those words were used not by me but by a journalist. I would not use that suggestion because, Mr Speaker, you have kept the Rally fully informed as to the process of that matter. I wish to say that were I to have used those words I would acknowledge them, but I did not.
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