Page 1943 - Week 06 - Thursday, 9 June 2016
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Here in the ACT, we have nationally leading climate change targets. The 40 per cent emissions reduction target was implemented through the Greens parliamentary agreement with the Labor Party in 2008. That target has guided many other decisions and initiatives since then. This target and the corresponding action on climate change are one of the crucial issues under threat should a conservative government be elected in the ACT in October.
The climate change target, as well as our long-term vision for a sustainable city, underpins our strong commitment to building light rail right across Canberra. We have signed the contracts. The commitment is real. This year’s budget shows forward planning that fully covers the costs of light rail, including its capital infrastructure, operational and maintenance costs. Despite the chicanery of the Liberals, we know exactly how much it will cost and where the funds will come from. We know we can afford it, and it is less than one per cent of the budget—a bargain for such an important project.
Light rail will positively shape our city as it grows through its second century. I do not see light rail as some political win for the Greens, as the conservatives would have you think. Light rail is simply one of the many bold and courageous decisions we need to take as a progressive government to respond to the real challenges facing our city. The next decades will see sharp population growth, the need to reduce our transport emissions, and the need to ensure access to transport for everybody in our community. As a smart and caring government does, we are preparing this city for the future.
A conservative and oppositional government like our local Liberals will always look for an excuse not to undertake this type of project: it is too risky to build; too expensive for us; or, my all-time favourite from the Canberra Liberals, “we love buses more”. As someone who has been in this Assembly for several years now, and has seen all of the Liberal Party’s hostile and negative manoeuvring on public transport, I can say that what is absolutely clear is that the local conservatives do not like public transport at all. Their fancy new bus plan sticks out like a sore thumb in an ocean of opposition to public transport improvements, to anything progressive, sustainable, or done for the long term. It messes with their stated view that everything must turn a profit, that all transport should be individualised and atomised, that public transport like light rail is somehow “anti-family”. Yes, that is what our local opposition has said in this chamber, that public transport is “anti-family”.
Let me turn to the response to domestic and family violence in this budget. This government is a responsible and progressive government when it comes to the issue of domestic and family violence. The Greens welcome the government’s $21.4 million commitment in this budget to responding to family violence with its safer families package. While the Greens know that this funding will not cover everything that needs to be done to combat violence and sexual assault in our community, this is a significant investment that, combined with the clear recommendations from recent reports on domestic and family violence, will ensure that the ACT is able to improve our systems, our responsiveness and our support systems. Integral to this is the creation of a full-time position of coordinator-general for family safety.
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