Page 3936 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 20 September 2017
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effect, a more suburban route service going through Mitchell. The red rapid disappears and there is no tram stop, so they are worse off without that rapid service. There is no doubt about that.
I think it is reasonable for the traders of Mitchell who are paying huge amounts through rates, payroll tax and other fees and charges, to get reasonable access. Why is it that the government still cannot say what the public transport plan is in this integrated world that they keep talking about? They have known that this was going to be the tram route for years now. What is actually going to be the bus plan? Either they know about it and they are not telling us or there has been a complete lack of planning for how light rail is actually going to integrate with buses.
Are we going to have a little shuttle service running around Mitchell, going to Well Station Drive or going to EPIC? Is that how it is going to operate? Is there going to be a loop service going from Gungahlin through Franklin and then on to Mitchell? Who knows? There is no clarity in this space. Businesses operate on certainty and on confidence, and it is reasonable that they would want to know what the parking arrangements are going to be and what the public transport arrangements are going to be. They are going to be worse off when you take out the red rapid stop.
Ms Le Couteur also mentioned the fact that the Assembly is not the place to talk about individual street paths or footpaths. We have a representative model here; we have an electorate model here. We are not large, and that was made quite evident by the fact that Ms Le Couteur stressed that she lived in her own electorate, that she lived in Phillip. That is reinforcing the parochial nature of this place and the fact that we do represent areas. The whole point of that representative model by way of electorates is that we have the local knowledge or we have the portfolio knowledge to stand up for things we are specialising in. That is exactly what Mr Wall is doing today—standing up for his portfolio of small business, of which there are several hundred in Mitchell that are getting a raw deal from this government, despite ever-increasing rates, fees, charges, taxes and all the other ways the ACT government fleeces them.
At the end of the day, the traders of Mitchell do not have an unreasonable request. They currently have a rapid bus service. They are going to have a tram track running out the front. Can they build a tram stop there? It seems pretty reasonable. According to the information we have, it looks like the cost is in the vicinity of $1 million. That is certainly what the business case says. If the business case is wrong so be it. If the government wants to clarify what the cost is, that would be useful. But it is only going to slow down the journey if people actually use it, because otherwise it will keep on going straight through.
I believe there is a good case to be made for a tram stop in Mitchell and I believe there is a good case for it to be included on the street sweeping schedule. Why is Mitchell not included on the street sweeping schedule? Why is there not a proper service for the people that are paying so much to this government and creating so many opportunities and creating so much enterprise in this city? I take my hat off to the businesses in Canberra but particularly those in Mitchell and the Gungahlin town centre that are struggling as a result of this construction process. I only hope that it is worth it.
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