Page 2245 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 22 June 2011
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Ms Gallagher has said that the Liberals have not been speaking out. The Liberals’ position on this is crystal clear. When she has been advocating, or supposedly advocating, for this road, I hope that she has not been saying the Liberals are opposed to it. She is probably not going to get very far if that is the case. In actual fact it is highly likely that, in whatever marginal negotiations or advocacy she has done, she would have said that the opposition would be supportive of it. Yet somehow that is not enough for her. In 2010 the Leader of the Opposition said that he endorsed the ACT government’s proposal for Majura parkway. I have put out a number of statements and I have been on the radio saying this. Yet that is not enough for this government.
Going back to the Greens, let us look at the excuses that they have made as to why they cannot actually support this motion. We have heard about it mixing up the urban form. We have heard about the economic costs. We have heard about congestion. We have heard about induced traffic. We have heard about greenhouse gas emissions. We have heard about modal shift. We have heard about taking away from light rail. And we have heard about it taking away from alternative options. At some point, are the crossbench going to have the guts to actually say they oppose Majura parkway?
Another two reasons which they have not mentioned today are Synemon plana, otherwise known as the golden sun moth, and the striped legless lizard. To core constituencies of the Greens, they always go into that forum. I find it very hard to believe that old Synemon plana will be adversely affected by putting a couple more lanes down Majura Road. I find it pretty implausible. If only Synemon plana were on the electoral roll, Mrs Dunne! If only they were, they would have great advocates in Mr Rattenbury. They would have great advocates in Mr Rattenbury to be able to push their case.
The motion that we have on the table is crystal clear. We urge the Assembly to support it.
Question so resolved in the affirmative.
MS BRESNAN (Brindabella) (12.22): I move:
That this Assembly:
(1) notes that:
(a) public transport services in the ACT need significant improvement and that:
(i) ACTION is only achieving an 83 percent timeliness rate for its buses, but NSW and Victorian bus services achieve 95 percent and 96 percent, respectively;
(ii) Canberra has the highest car passenger kilometres per capita and the lowest per capita use of public transport of all Australian capital cities; and
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