Page 671 - Week 03 - Thursday, 15 March 2007
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MR SPEAKER: Order!
Mr Stanhope: that I have got to move a censure that he is a serial liar in order to deal with his misrepresentation.
MR SPEAKER: Order, Chief Minister! Just resume your seat.
Mr Stanhope: He is a lot worse than that, of course. The fact that he is that as well is a problem.
MR SPEAKER: It is open to you, Chief Minister, if you feel you have been misrepresented, to seek leave from me to address the situation pursuant to standing order 46. All of those things that you have mentioned are available to you, but you should not use points of order as a device to make a point—
Mr Stanhope: What—that he does not tell the truth?
MR SMYTH: He has got to withdraw that, Mr Speaker.
Mr Stanhope: Well, we just heard him, Mr Speaker, not tell the truth.
MR SPEAKER: Order! Just withdraw that. You are just turning up the heat.
Mr Stanhope: I withdraw that, and I will deal with it as appropriate.
MR SMYTH: Mr Speaker, the tetchiness of the Chief Minister on this is indication of how important it is that we get the ACTION network right. The Chief Minister spoke of indisputable facts. Well, let us put a couple of other indisputable facts onto the table. It is an indisputable fact that boardings and trips by students have declined. It is an indisputable fact that his government, through their network, have caused the number of concessions to decline. They are indisputable facts if we are talking about indisputable facts.
This is the problem with this government: they just cannot get it right. They have punished students, the most vulnerable. They talk about education reform, but there is no point reforming the education system if the kids cannot get to school. And they talk about protecting the most vulnerable in our community; but why have they targeted concessions so that the people who in the main rely most on the buses, often use them out of the peak hour because they cannot use them at peak hour because their concessions are not valid, have fewer buses to board?
We heard Mrs Dunne talk today about somebody who had approached her who cannot make the trip to Kingston. I have had a similar constituent from Chisholm say to me that for her to get from Chisholm to Kingston or Manuka on the weekend to catch up with her friends would normally take about two hours—two hours in the nation’s capital! So it puts young people at risk. It also means that the homeward-bound trips for the young people are taking way too long and often will terminate after dark, which again, in particular, puts young females at risk. And this is the 06 network that the Chief Minister’s government has put in place.
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