Page 1774 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 4 May 2011
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
one way or another, I am very confident that the GDE, as we currently know it, is going to be erased from history and they are going to call it something else. I hope, by simply flagging this today, I will in fact deter the government from doing it. That would make it an even more cynical exercise now that I have actually mentioned it here in May, a year or so before it happened.
But watch this space. Are we going to see the Jon Stanhope Parkway? Or perhaps they will actually call it after a prominent Liberal, to try to make it hard for us to have a go at it. Who knows what they will do.
Mr Hanson: The Alistair Coe Parkway?
MR COE: If it is free flowing and concentrates on core business, I would be happy for it to have that name, as long as it is not a memorial parkway. But what I do think is important to note is that the GDE does describe in an infrastructure form what this government are all about, and I do believe that, in a very cynical exercise next year, they will rename it. So watch this space.
The story of the GDE really is quite amazing. It was originally costed by the Liberals at $32 million.
Mr Stanhope: What a joke!
MR COE: Labor promised to build it for $53 million. Was that a joke? He said $32 million is a joke. But what about $53 million? Is that a joke? $53 million in 2001. That was what Mr Stanhope said: $53 million. Here we are, 10 years on and it is going to cost around $200 million. In 2001, when Jon Stanhope was elected, the Canberra Liberals were the only party contesting the 2001 election determined to construct the Gungahlin Drive extension as a priority. By contrast, Stanhope Labor went to the 2001 election with a policy to change the route of the road from the eastern flank of the AIS to the western side. Mr Stanhope knew full well that any change of route would require time-consuming, new environmental and planning approvals.
In actual fact there is an amendment being circulated stating that this is going to cost $194 million. What a steal at $194 million, when he said it was going to cost $53 million! I tell you what, if I was to go and say I wanted to buy something for $53 million and then they said it was going to cost $194 million, I might be a little disappointed. But not this government; this government seem to think they have got a good deal. They have got a good buy. They seem to think that this is going to be one of these great infrastructure investments, one of the great capital spends that they regularly brag about. This government is absolutely unable to deliver capital works.
But it is important to note that the other party in this coalition, the Greens, of course did not want the road in the first place. In actual fact, Ms Le Couteur nods. They did not want the road in the first place, because Gungahlin residents must not deserve the road. It is worth noting that about a year ago, in March 2010, Ms Hunter said:
That is probably a straightforward one for the Greens. We do not believe that it was the right road to build in the first place …
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video