Page 3591 - Week 11 - Thursday, 23 October 2014
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It really does seem very peculiar to me that Ms Berry would come to this place and not speak for one second for her electorate when it comes to the expenditure of $800 million, $900 million, $1 billion of taxpayers’ money. Not only that, I find it odd that a member of this place would actually find it acceptable that we are going to award a contract, the biggest capital works contract ever in the ACT, to what is inevitably going to be an interstate or an international company. And quite frankly, it has to be. There is no company in Canberra that will be prequalified to do this kind of work, I believe. Therefore, this has to go to an interstate or an international consortium.
Surely there will be clauses in there saying that they have got to have local industry engagement; surely there will be clauses in there that say that they have got to employ local subbies or whatever. But the fact is that the vast majority of the money, and definitely the vast majority of the profit, is going to be going interstate or perhaps overseas.
I am at a complete loss as to how it can be that you can have the Tuggeranong Community Council and other community councils frequently putting out statements that this is not the best use of money, yet every single MLA on the other side of this chamber simply ignores those statements. In fact Ms Burch went to the Tuggeranong Community Council and had a go at them for talking out about light rail, had a go at them for actually saying, “How is this going to serve our district?”
How is this going to serve the 93 per cent of Canberrans that do not live within walking distance of a tram stop? How is it going to remove car dependency for the 93 per cent of people that do not live within walking distance of a tram stop? How is it going to remove car dependency for the people in the suburbs of Dunlop, Macgregor, Charnwood, Fraser, Evatt, Melba or any of the other suburbs in Ginninderra? The fact is that every single resident of Ginninderra is outside the walking distance prescribed for public transport, well outside, in fact, if you go by the 400-metre rule. But if you go for the ambitious one-kilometre rule, they are still well outside.
There are a handful of people in Palmerston that might be about 1½ kilometres from the nearest tram stop but the vast majority of residents in Gungahlin and all the residents of Belconnen will not be within walking distance of a tram stop. What impact will this have on them? How is this city building? How is this some sort of nation building scheme for the capital, if it does not actually serve the vast majority of residents?
It is all very well for people to say this is going to enliven the corridor. We know for a fact that people are willing to invest in Northbourne Avenue as it is. We have seen the Axis apartments being constructed, we are seeing the IQ apartments being constructed, and we are seeing the Haig apartments being constructed. There is the Avenue, Space, Space 2 and numerous other projects. If the government want higher density on Northbourne Avenue, all they have got to do is sell the blocks and they will get higher density on Northbourne Avenue.
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