Page 113 - Week 01 - Tuesday, 9 February 2010
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In the typical style of this government, they did not listen to the views given through the consultation period. For nine days of the 10-day consultation, the wrong email address was given but, despite this, significant feedback was received by the department. The government also conducted consultation in the development of the territory plan but this was before residents even lived there.
Now this government has decided to ignore the will of the Assembly and has bullied the Greens into submission. This whole debacle highlights both the arrogance of the government and the gutlessness of the Greens. In spite of Ms Le Couteur admitting they did not have final or thorough costings, she and her colleagues went back on their word and have turned their back on the people of Harrison. There can be no excuse for what the Greens have done. They have let down the people of Gungahlin, and I hope all remember this sad day.
This is what Ms Le Couteur said in the chamber on 11 November:
… we think there is merit in re-evaluating the current proposed alignment of the Wells Station Drive extension and, in particular, consulting the community to redesign this to most likely an eastern alignment. As it is an arterial road, it should not be through the suburb. While Harrison 4 is currently in the design phase, this is the time to sort out the problem. While we have got the bit of Harrison which is next to it still to be sorted out, it would seem an ideal time to finally fix this problem.
I agree with her comments. She went on to say:
This is a $7 million project; so it is really important to ensure that we get it right rather than have to try to tinker with it afterwards.
Ms Le Couteur, they are wise words. She hit the nail on the head when she said:
Mr Coe would not be moving this motion and the Greens would not be supporting it if the government was prepared to listen more to local communities.
Yet Ms Le Couteur has sold out, ignored her previous statement and is suddenly satisfied with the road.
In December last year, I was told by the minister’s office that the realignment of the extension would cost several million dollars. The “throw-away line” justification for this was the reconstructing of a bridge and the alluvial soil in the area. What the minister’s office gave us were essentially back-of-the-envelope estimates. When I and my colleagues from the Canberra Liberals make a decision as important as the placement of an arterial road, we are not satisfied with such shabby information.
Due to the lack of information given to me by the minister, I submitted a freedom of information request, which was returned in January. Of the few hundred pages in that FOI, there is no more substantiation of the cost estimate. Nothing in the documents relies on more than verbal discussions of what the cost would be.
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