Page 2743 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 28 June 2011
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These are the sorts of things that are core business. It was a pleasure to help some of these constituents when they contacted me. It is important to note that when constituents contact members of the opposition about concerns they have, it is often as a last resort. People do not want to go to politicians to solve their problems; they would rather they just happened. When it comes down to it, constituents want to be living their life; they want to be doing what they do best, making choices for them and their family. They do not want to have to go and speak to a politician, put it in writing, send emails and follow up like that. That is not something that people want to do. They do it as a last resort. When you get so many emails and so many calls to the opposition, as does happen, it is disappointing that so many people in Ginninderra or across Canberra feel as though this government has let them down and they have to take that step.
There are lots of other issues which I have raised, whether it be graffiti and amenity issues at different shops across Ginninderra or whether it be hazardous trees on nature strips; the lack of shops; the run-down nature of some of the shops; privacy issues within TAMS, within ACTION in particular; or the lack of concession fares for people who live in other jurisdictions.
I was pleased to see that the estimates committee has put in a recommendation that the ACT government does work with other jurisdictions, especially New South Wales, and especially the Queanbeyan City Council, in terms of coming to an arrangement. There is no reason why we have to wait for the New South Wales government to jump on board before we can give concessions to people who live in Queanbeyan. It simply does not have to happen. There is no reason why we cannot say, “We will accept New South Wales concessions on the ACTION network.” There is no reason why we cannot say that. Yet this government say, “No, we have got to go into this dialogue with other states and come to a big agreement.” It simply does not need to happen. Yes, it would be preferable if it does go to a national agreement, perhaps through COAG or through the transport council. However, there is no reason whatsoever why ACTION or the government cannot say as a policy decision, “We will accept concession card holders from Queanbeyan or from other areas around the territory when travelling on ACTION buses.” That is something that this government should be looking at very seriously.
In addition to that, we have raised with the government concerns about bus stop seats and the inclusion of bus stops at different locations around Canberra; about their consideration of different scheduling changes and the provision of disability friendly buses; and about dog exercise areas. I talked about remedial work on the national equestrian trail in Holt to ensure the safety of users of that facility. We have looked at pedestrian crossings across many different parts of Belconnen and other parts of Canberra. And there is the provision of school bus services for Gungahlin residents, who are yet to receive any bus services, let alone school bus services.
We have made many representations on issues such as mowing. When it comes down to it, mowing is very much one of the things which represents the look and feel of the city. It seems to me that the government did drop the bundle in the last summer when it came to maintaining the urban open space in the city—so much so that they had to go and spend an extra $1 million as an unforeseen cost because they said that with the
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