Page 2577 - Week 08 - Thursday, 30 June 2005
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MR CORBELL (Molonglo—Minister for Health and Minister for Planning) (5.17): Mr Speaker, a few issues are worth highlighting again. I was interested to hear Mr Seselja’s grudging acknowledgement that there has been an increase in ACTION patronage. However, he said that this was because we are building on car parks. That is a very silly suggestion and you only have to look at some statistics to see that. For example, at the moment there are about 12,000 to 13,000 car parks in the central city area.
Mr Seselja: They are just not close to the shops.
MR CORBELL: At any one time—
Mr Seselja: They are all there at the back of the Assembly.
MR SPEAKER: Order, Mr Seselja!
MR CORBELL: At any one time only about 73 per cent of those car parks are utilised. So there is actually a surplus of car parking space in the city compared to utilisation.
Mr Seselja: Just not in the good areas, Simon.
MR SPEAKER: Order, Mr Seselja!
MR CORBELL: I acknowledge that the distribution of those car parks is not uniform across the city and that obviously creates issues. But when you look at the overall provision of car parking in the city you see that it is surplus to peak requirements. So that is something that is worth members keeping in mind. Fundamentally we have to ask ourselves as a city and a community what sort of built form do we want in our city? Do we want a city dominated by surface car parking or do we want a more urban environment? That is the question that we have to address as a community.
Perhaps it is worth highlighting that what is actually increasing patronage is increased frequency of service. In fact, 50 per cent of the eight per cent increase in patronage that we have seen from last year to this year is entirely on our new Xpresso commuter services. So the money that the government has invested in increased frequency during peak times is what is attracting increased patronage. Ms Dunne criticises the government for not focusing on frequency. There it is, Ms Dunne—50 per cent of the increased patronage is down solely to increases in frequency during peak times. It speaks for itself.
Mr Seselja raised the issue of funding for cycleways. During its term in office the government has invested considerably in on-road and off-road cycle paths. We have a strong record in that area and we continue in this budget to increase that funding significantly.
I would like to refer briefly to the funding that is made available in the budget for the ongoing implementation of the Canberra central program. This government put on the table about 2½ years ago the need to establish a framework to drive city revitalisation. The Canberra central taskforce was the outcome of that. I am really pleased that as
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