Page 1616 - Week 06 - Thursday, 7 June 2007
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that is the GDE? The GDE has been granted a $4 million contingency fund this year. I deeply suspect that, with 18 months until completion of this project, the potential for the GDE contingency fund to go over this amount is quite large.
Upgrade of airport roads—$10 million again. I have doubts that the government can spend that kind of money, because there is so much money to be spent in one year. The Pialligo Avenue upgrade: can the congestion get any worse on Pialligo? Can the congestion get any worse? Yes, it can, according to Mr Hargreaves, who said last night on WIN TV that it will get doubly worse from now to September 2008. Why? Because, after years of neglect, this project will cost more and take longer. Again we see the game of catch-up.
The Majura Road money will cover only a feasibility study. The Kings Highway repavement will cover only design money. The Cotter Road funding is only a forward design allocation. These are projects which have been on the back-burner for five years and more. This government has not got the courage to lock in a five-year road funding plan to ensure that these areas are addressed.
Let me turn to Tharwa bridge. This government has neglected the village of Tharwa for far too long. There is a litany of traumas that have faced and continue to face this village, some of which come as a direct result of the failure of this government to move quickly on the Tharwa bridge project. The Tharwa community has been forced to commute via an unsafe, dodgy detour since September 2006. The $9.5 million allocated to the construction of the bridge is way overdue. It is welcome money, but it is way overdue. It is just dressed up and touted as a brand new initiative. The Stanhope government owe Tharwa. They cannot expect this community to jump for joy over the half-hearted, recycled promise delivered to them via this budget promise. We seriously question the ability of this government to achieve the project deadline and we fear the continued strangulation of Tharwa.
What about the look of the city—infrastructure. As we see with so many of the initiatives in this year’s budget, there is temporary additional funding allocated to deal with specific problems only. There is not a broad allocation of money to add capacity, to make sure that this city’s infrastructure is serviceable. Shopping centre upgrades: only three shopping centres—Ainslie, Garran and Melba—yet there are many shopping centres in a dilapidated condition.
What about the library RFID system? The massive injection of funds into radio frequency identification comes at the expense of community libraries. What about shopfront services? Where in this budget is the realisation that the closing down of the Civic ACT shopfront has imposed strains on our town centre shopfronts and massive restrictions on those who work and live in and around Civic and now need to travel to the town centres?
Finally, I want to look at a couple of areas in the parking sphere. There is a $32 million injection for pay-as-you-go parking, but this $32 million—the bulk of which will now go to the building of the new parking facility at Canberra Hospital—leaves a lousy $3 million for the rest of the territory. And we believe that this government will reintroduce pay parking to pay for that initiative—to take money back once that structure has been built. Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker, need I remind
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