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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 1 Hansard (19 February) . . Page.. 105 ..

MR BERRY (continuing):

There are a few things in the motion that are of interest. I am not sure what they mean. In paragraph (1) Mr Osborne moves that we note that the ACT Government has a minority of members in the Assembly. I do not know whether that implies that they could be under some threat. That is a fact, of course, but they did not get where they are without majority support. You would hardly expect people who have been given the Executive benches not to order priorities in accordance with their own policies. We warned you that this would happen. There were alternatives. I am sure that you would have been better off under a Labor government. You might recall that the Territory was travelling much better when there were two Labor governments than it is travelling now with two Liberal ones. The option was there but you missed the opportunity. However, there could be future opportunities for you.

Another point that Mr Osborne raised is that one-third of available Assembly time is currently set aside for business initiated by non-Government members. I am not sure whether he means that we should get one-third of the effort in the drafting office. If that is what he really means, I am not sure that I would endorse that. I would want to have a look at it a little more closely. I go back to the first point. It is an important one. There was an opportunity to get a better world and you missed the chance, Mr Osborne. We will be supporting the motion.

Question resolved in the affirmative.

MS HORODNY (12.04): I move the following motion calling for a halt to the development of the proposed John Dedman Parkway:

That, in line with the recommendations of the Report on Gungahlin's Transport Links by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on the Australian Capital Territory, the Government stop any further work on determining the route and timing of the proposed John Dedman Parkway until the Assembly is satisfied that the Government has:

(1) completed the Future Public Transport Options Study initiated in response to the Joint Committee's Report and acted on its recommendations;

(2) developed and implemented a detailed strategy of measures to facilitate the use of public transport and other non-car modes of transport by Canberra residents, particularly including Gungahlin residents;

(3) developed and implemented a strategy to reduce the number of vehicles travelling between Gungahlin and Civic or other southern destinations, such as by encouraging employment opportunities in Gungahlin and restricting employment growth in Civic;

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