Page 1434 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 6 April 2011
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terms of their capacity to move around the city. And there is a significant economic cost just in terms of the fulfilling of business, and the need for efficient roadways and efficient transport networks for the purposes of the economy of the territory. So there are a range of ways in which we measure cost. There are environmental costs and there are social costs. Of course, there are major environmental costs. We seek to balance those, and we balance those by making judgements and assessments around some of the costs that we would meet if we do not invest in roads.
MR COE: A supplementary, Mr Speaker.
MR SPEAKER: Yes, Mr Coe.
MR COE: Chief Minister, will your government’s commitment to a 40 per cent emissions reduction target restrict any additional flights that the Canberra airport may take on due to overcrowding at Sydney airport?
MR STANHOPE: I wonder whether Mr Coe might repeat the question. I am not sure I understood it.
MR SPEAKER: Mr Coe, would you like to repeat it?
MR COE: Sure, Mr Speaker. Given your government has committed to a 40 per cent emissions reduction target, and much will be coming from the transport sector, will that target affect any growth at Canberra airport with regard to additional flights it may attract from Sydney?
MR STANHOPE: I think Mr Coe would be aware that just in the last day or so I have given my support to the possibility of Canberra airport indeed being a secondary or an overflow airport for Sydney. I think it is quite feasible. I see that the Premier of New South Wales would prefer light rail. He would prefer, in fact, a fast train rather than a second airport. It is a very interesting debate. The Liberal Party position now is to support the very fast train as a response. I must say I am very pleased to see the Premier of New South Wales engaging with the prospect of a very fast train. It has indeed been the ACT government in recent years, the only government along the eastern seaboard, that has been prepared to continue to advance an argument in support of that. I certainly do welcome Barry O’Farrell’s comments of the last day that the New South Wales government’s preferred position in relation to additional transport within New South Wales should be pursued through a very fast train connecting the cities of the eastern seaboard.
I have no such expectation, Mr Coe, that Canberra airport will be particularly affected. But, certainly, as we go forward and as we deal with the issue of climate change, first and foremost we need to put a price on carbon. We need political parties across Australia to show some maturity in relation to the national action that will be required. That does require the Liberal Party to stop being the party that denies—the party in denial about the reality of climate change, the party that really is affecting or impacting our capacity as a nation to deal with this incredibly difficult issue. The nay-saying, the talking down, the politicisation of the issue and the refusal to accept climate change as a reality by the Liberal Party really is a big issue. (Time expired.)
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