Page 1347 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 25 March 2009
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MRS DUNNE: More than Ms Porter, actually.
Mr Stanhope: Did you exceed the donkey vote?
MRS DUNNE: Many more than Ms Porter and an increase on the vote that I had the previous time; so I would not go there, Chief Minister, if I were you.
Mr Seselja: He is having a go at your votes, Mary.
MRS DUNNE: He is having a go at anybody he can have a go at, because for seven years this man has been the Chief Minister and has ignored the needs of his constituents. The people who live in Nicholls, whether he likes it or not, are his constituents. Perhaps he finds it inconvenient that people who live in Nicholls and who do not vote as a majority for the Labor Party should have his attention, because it is only today, when this issue has been raised in the Legislative Assembly, that this minister can show any interest at all in his constituency and the constituent matters that are important to the people of the ACT.
The Chief Minister was speaking very emotionally yesterday and on radio today about road safety. This is a road safety issue. The way that the Nicholls shops parking is configured is a road safety issue and the solution being put forward, of having people reversing out of their car parks, just compounds that. Having people being forced to exit through a very narrow residential lane, which is not really a street designed for the purpose, is a road safety issue. I do not want to be alarmist about this but there are accidents that occur in shopping centre car parks. The Chief Minister has shown no interest in the subject until today. And suddenly he has an interest in it. Mr Coe needs to be congratulated for taking up this issue on behalf of his constituents, for asking the questions, for pursuing the issues.
The other thing that needs to be noted, of course, is the way in which the Labor Party has attempted to nobble Mr Coe on this issue. When he raised this issue and took it to the media, media advisers from the government went to the media and said, “No, it has all been fixed. There is no story here.” The usual approach of the Labor Party is to say, “Move along there, lads, nothing to see here.”
What we have actually seen is that the Labor Party, as they did with Mr Doszpot’s issue in relation to stamp duty charges on disability vehicles, as they did with Mr Coe, told the media there was no issue there; they moved people on. Of course, there is an issue here. There is something here. Jon Stanhope and his advisers told the media there was no issue here; it was all about to start; and all the work would be effectively done. As it turned out, it was another falsehood peddled by the Stanhope government to the media and the community of the ACT. The media and the community of the ACT have been led down the garden path again by the Stanhope government media machine.
We on the Canberra Liberals side will be holding the Stanhope government to account. We want to see proper consultation on how to best improve the car park at the Nicholls shops. If we have to widen the car park to make it more serviceable, so be it.
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