Page 1679 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 1 May 2012
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little to say about the Malkara school hydrotherapy pool replacement except that we thought this was a very good thing and we were universally in favour of it.
Going to Ashley Drive, my two fellow committee members on PAC are both members for Brindabella and both had a considerable amount to say on this issue. I will admit to being only a very infrequent visitor to the electorate of Brindabella and while I do know where Ashley Drive is, I am not in a position to make comments about any traffic issues on Ashley Drive. So basically this part was very ably assisted by having local knowledge on the issue. We did get a useful report from the TAMS Directorate on the subject.
The thing, though, that we were all concerned about, and I guess me in particular, was in recommendation 3, which I will read:
The Committee recommends that the ACT Government explain to the ACT Legislative Assembly the compatibility of the proposed works to be encompassed under the Ashley Drive upgrade project with the goals of the ACT Sustainable Transport Plan.
Hopefully they are compatible but I am concerned that possibly they are not. The goals of the ACT’s sustainable transport plan are all about reducing greenhouse gas emissions, increasing active transport, increasing public transport. It was not at all clear to me that this expenditure on Ashley Drive and the areas around it is going to do a lot for those goals. I do agree some money was going to be put in for a small amount of cycle infrastructure but I think it was a fairly small amount of cycle infrastructure. I would be very interested to see the government’s response to how this expenditure will advance the goals of the ACT sustainable transport plan.
In summary, the committee unanimously agreed that we did support the proposed appropriation bill and I commend the committee’s report to the Assembly. Of course, before I resume my seat, I should very much thank the committee secretary, Dr Andrea Cullen, for her tireless work on this, and my fellow committee members.
MR SMYTH (Brindabella) (12.06): The second approp bill mainly deals with the outcomes of the EBA negotiations, a new hydrotherapy pool for Malkara and some transport work in Tuggeranong. I think all the committee was agreed that the option taken to fully replace the pool at Malkara was reasonable. I believe all members of the committee were very supportive of the work undertaken by Malkara and understand the importance of the hydrotherapy pool.
In regard to the recommendations, the four recommendations apply mainly to the $7 million for the Ashley Drive upgrade. This has been on the books for some time. I think the Liberals proposed it in 2004 and 2008 and the government certainly proposed it at least in 2008. But here we are yet again at the death knell of a government and finally the money is forthcoming for the people of Tuggeranong.
The appropriation is welcomed but I think people need to understand what is being proposed. Ashley Drive, and the section of Sternberg Crescent from the top of Ashley Drive to the intersection with Bugden Avenue, is the area covered in this scale of
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