Page 2724 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 28 June 2011
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said it was because Infrastructure Australia did not support the bid. So in 2008, when the federal government did not provide any funding to assist a light rail project, the government took no further action.
The Majura freeway also has not received government funding, but, unlike light rail, it is the government’s number one priority and has been the subject of constant, ongoing efforts. Far from quitting on this, the government has raised it constantly in the media as well as met with the federal infrastructure minister and with the Prime Minister specifically to lobby for the Majura parkway project, and there are an EIS and also design studies. Perhaps the most obvious sign of commitment is the provision of $144 million.
The Liberals say the Chief Minister has not done enough, but, compared to the effort put into light rail, the government has made a significant effort for the Majura freeway. None of these things have been done for light rail. Imagine if the government put the kind of effort into light rail as it has put into the Majura parkway. It might have redesigned its bid or it might have bid for a specific section of light rail for Canberra. In fact, if it had a genuine commitment to sustainable transport through light rail, the government would have designated money in the budget for the beginnings of a light rail project, despite there being no federal assistance.
With that money committed back in 2008 or 2009, by now we might have had at least one stage of light rail working or, at the very least, being constructed in Canberra. Just imagine how important that would be for our transport system. We might have had a light rail route running from, say, Gungahlin to Civic and possibly on to Barton and Kingston. That could have been the foundation to a shift in the kind of transport patterns we are experiencing in Canberra. I note again that there is no money in the appropriation bill for this year and that the $144 million is all listed in the next three outyears.
I will not go into this issue further now, but I want to ask that the government acknowledge the vastly different efforts that it is putting into different transport projects. Some of the comments it has made about having both the Majura parkway and sustainable transport such as light rail seem disingenuous when you put them in this context. In the context of the Chief Minister’s directorate, I ask that the Chief Minister recognise the whole-of-government significance of sustainable transport projects and that she genuinely give priority to projects that will make Canberra sustainable.
I will also raise a couple of issues in relation to industrial relations policy, which is covered under the Chief Minister’s directorate. The first is in relation to workplace privacy. I introduced, and the Assembly passed, a bill on workplace privacy earlier this year. The bill commences in under two months from now in mid-August. I have some concern that the implementation of this bill is not being adequately progressed. I am unaware of any publicity or education to ensure workplaces know of their new obligations. Preparations need to be made for the proper implementation and subsequent enforcement of this legislation. I hope that, at the implementation level, the government is giving sufficient attention and resourcing to this bill from the Greens. I note, for example, that Ms Le Couteur’s legislation on shopping trolleys came into effect in March, and many months later it still is not being implemented.
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