Page 2703 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 23 June 2009
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something that, despite the denials of the then-minister that timber was available and that the new bridge had to be built, could have gone ahead a long time ago.
We look at things as simple as ACTION bus services and the changes to the services over the last couple of generations of the ACTION bus services. I refer particularly to the changes to the bus services in 2008. The proposal from then Minister Hargreaves for the treatment of the outer suburbs of Canberra was an absolute fiasco. I only have to say “routes 768 and 769” to indicate where the minister, who had been sitting too long in his ivory tower, had forgotten about the routes that move through the outer suburbs and the edge suburbs and then quickly move passengers to the heart of the city. It was a vindication of the public when the decision was overturned and routes 768 and 769 were kept. It is about making sure that people at the outer edges of the city have as good a service as the rest of the city has. They are in some ways disadvantaged by the length of the city and we should make sure that we put in place programs to ensure that they get the services that they not just deserve but need.
It goes to the issues of GPs. Of course, we took to the last election the issue of a bulk-billing GP clinic for Tuggeranong. It is a service they do not have. It is a service they are not going to get under this government. The whole issue of GPs—particularly when you go to the Lanyon Valley, where, for a long time, access to a doctor was incredibly hard—is an indictment of this government. It is an indictment that it took them almost seven years to wake up to the fact that we did have problems with GP numbers in the territory and that they actually should do something about it.
In terms of the provision of sporting facilities, I need refer only to the disparity between the access to a swimming pool lane on the outer edges of the city as opposed to even north versus south of the lake. We have a disproportionate lack of lanes for swimming in Tuggeranong. I am sure somebody else might have a few more words to say about that.
I refer to youth services and in particular Indigenous youth services. We heard during the estimates committee hearing about, for instance, Gugan Gulwan at Wanniassa that has tremendous programs for young Indigenous people, for Indigenous males and Indigenous families. These are critical programs that were costing very, very small amounts of money and yet were under threat because the government had not taken into account not just the effect on the Indigenous people at the loss of these programs but the actual location of these programs. The fact that Gugan Gulwan chose to set up in Wanniassa said, “We understand we need to be where these services are required.” They made that decision and they certainly should be backed up in that regard.
Access to libraries is something that I have raised in this place many times. The further you are away from a library, the less likely you are to attend. I think we have the ideal opportunity here. We talk about Canberrans being well educated, and we do have a good education system. We always have had. I hope we always will. But as a reinforcement to that system, as well as providing what would appear from studies around the world to be the new town hall, libraries are a place that people see as neutral ground where they can go, where they can be safe, where they can in some cases receive companionship.
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