Page 4059 - Week 13 - Thursday, 6 December 2007
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Your predecessor as planning minister took a different view, as does the sustainable transport plan, a plan which is often trumpeted by you. The sustainable transport plan lists as short-term priorities the construction of the Civic to Belconnen busway and the Gungahlin to Civic busway, as well as listing two other busways as medium-term priorities. Minister, are you unaware of what is contained in your sustainable transport plan, or did the government simply change course when it realised what a disastrous waste of money the Belconnen to Civic busway was?
MR HARGREAVES: I am intrigued by the question coming from Mr Seselja when we talk about the busway project. Of course, the busway project is the project whereby land would be set aside as—I think these are the words used; I can be corrected if I am wrong here—a transport corridor.
Mr Seselja: That is why I am asking you.
MR SPEAKER: Order!
MR HARGREAVES: Those words have a mirror. They are in the Liberal Party policy platform, which has not been updated—
Mrs Dunne: Yes, but it wasn’t going to cost us $5 million to do it.
MR SPEAKER: Order! Mrs Dunne.
MR HARGREAVES: It has not been updated since July 2004. Mr Seselja ought to tell the rest of the Liberal Party that he has a different view. The rest of the Liberal Party still endorses the policy, which says, “We will provide transport corridors.”
Mr Seselja: You don’t know the answer.
MR SPEAKER: Mr Seselja, order!
MR HARGREAVES: Mr Corbell, quite correctly, indicated to the people of Canberra that, if we want to look into the future and make sure that we make provisions for land down the major transport corridors, with sufficient land around it also to make sure that there is residential and business development along it, then what we need is to have some land put aside. When you have land put aside, it requires a certain amount of investigation—planning, PAs, environment, heritage, the whole works. That is what was done for the Belconnen to Civic one.
Mr Seselja: You said you were going to construct it. That is what your plan says—in the short term. When is that? Next year? In five years?
MR SPEAKER: Mr Seselja!
MR HARGREAVES: The issue that we need to talk about in relation to Mr Seselja’s question is what would happen if we did not put these transport corridors down. I will tell you: there would be no such thing as a discussion around light rail; there would be no discussion around busways.
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