Page 3445 - Week 08 - Thursday, 23 August 2012
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It is worth considering, of course, that increasing services and the quality of services is a way of increasing patronage, which of course increases fare revenue, reduces the amount of empty or low patronage buses and decreases the proportion of the subsidy. A comparison of public transport subsidies around Australia shows that the ACT gives a significantly smaller proportion of its annual expenditure to public transport services than most other states and territories.
While the average state gave 4.1 per cent of its general government sector expenditure to public transport in 2008-09, the ACT gave 1.8 per cent. The ACT’s public transport funding in the 2011-12 budget outcome was 2.46 per cent, 2.2 per cent for 2012-13 and reducing to two per cent by 2015-16. According to 2008-09 data, New South Wales gave the most to public transport as a percentage of general government expenditure, at 6.2, and Queensland the second most, at 4.8. The ACT ranked sixth. The ACT Greens support better funding for ACTION, more services for the people who need them and the creation of a rapid public transport system that people can rely on.
MS GALLAGHER (Molonglo—Chief Minister, Minister for Health and Minister for Territory and Municipal Services) (7.36): I thank members for their contribution to the debate. This is an important area of government service delivery. This is local government services. It goes to the heart of what Canberrans care about. Probably next in line with health and education comes TAMS and all the services they provide.
I would just like to put on the record the work that TAMS do, to get an understanding of the work that they do. They maintain 3,200 kilometres of roads, 420 kilometres of on-road cycle lanes and 359 kilometres of off-road cycle paths across the ACT. They undertook 16,369 kilometres of street sweeping in the 2011-12 year. They replaced 3,271 signs and undertook 489,114 square kilometres of road re-surfacing in the 2011-12 year.
They manage 75 per cent of the ACT land and provide over 80 per cent of Canberra and Queanbeyan’s water supply. They provide advice and support to 187 rural lessees who have leases over 38,659 hectares. They manage 57 public toilet amenities in rural areas and 250 barbeques in rural reserves and camp grounds. They provide more than 270 ranger-guided activities for over 3,000 participants. They support 38 park care and land care groups with approximately 400 volunteers.
Every year, they welcome over 200,000 visitors to Tidbinbilla nature reserves and host over 9,000 visitors at Birrigai, at Tidbinbilla—predominantly ACT school groups engaged in environmental or outdoor adventure programs. They undertake 20,000 hectares of fire fuel management activities, including 7,484 hectares of grazing, 7,556 hectares of slashing, 4,522 hectares of prescribed burns, 542 hectares of physical fuel removal and 837 hectares of chemical control. They manage 140 trained bushfire fighters and upgrade and maintain over 500 kilometres of fire trails each year.
They manage and maintain approximately 700,000 trees in urban open space and street verges valued at around $420 million. They manage and maintain the floral display for Floriade. They maintain 501 playgrounds and nine skate parks. They
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