Page 3021 - Week 14 - Tuesday, 5 December 1989
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Mr Speaker, although the reforms in the area of housing and the environment are substantial, they are only part of the progress that we have achieved over the past seven months. Nowhere is this Government's commitments to social justice and community consultation better shown than in the recent release of Transport ACT, a draft comprehensive transport policy. It aims to develop a policy by which many future government decisions will be guided. The policy proposes a strategy for handling commuter travel against broad policy objectives. This is the first time such a comprehensive approach to handling transport has been developed in the ACT. Transport ACT focuses on travel to Civic in the first instance because Civic requires attention now, and the proposals on how the Government's broad objectives can be achieved were given high priority.
Mr Speaker, unfortunately time does not permit me to continue in detail with the achievements of this Government over the last six months. It is unfortunate that, should this no-confidence motion succeed, the so-called alliance will stifle many of the initiatives planned for the next couple of years.
However, in the short time left to me, I would like to outline some of the other successes of the Government. The introduction of the civil enforcement of parking fines will free up court and police resources and will remove an unfair burden from the taxpayer of the ACT. Legislation is being drafted to set limits on the weights of loads which can be carried on ACT roads, which apply throughout the rest of Australia. Emergency telephones are being placed on the Tuggeranong Parkway for the safety of the motorist. The school bus safety campaign was launched and has since received outstanding support from schools, parents and children. Canberra's growing cycle path network has been preserved for all users, and $1m is being spent on its expansion. The Government has agreed to provide for the management, control and disposal of clinical wastes, which are dangers to the voters and people of Canberra. A syringe disposal system is being installed in public toilets, and a sharps hotline has been set up to protect the youth of Canberra.
A major focus has been to improve services to Canberra residents, and this has included reducing approval times in the building section; improving performance at the Motor Vehicle Registry, including the opening of extensions to the Phillip Motor Vehicle Registry; opening of the Tuggeranong shopfront; expansion of bus services to Tuggeranong; completion of the Tuggeranong library; and the opening of the Tuggeranong office of the building section.
I wonder how the people over there, who are supposed to represent Tuggeranong, will feel when all the parking is cut off for people here. As I look across at them over there, I do not think any of them will be back. Needless to say, with the deep policy divisions splitting the so-
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