Page 2979 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 15 August 2018
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it is genuine. It is, of course, understandable that people whose bus routes are going to change want to let us know that they would like them to stay just the way they are. I understand that. But we simply must increase the number of people using public transport in this city, and I really reject any suggestion that there has not been genuine consultation.
I take my hat off to the Transport Canberra officials who have been working day and night at community consultations. They have gone above and beyond in genuinely getting out there and talking to Canberrans and hearing their concerns. For the Canberra Liberals to suggest that these officials will not be considering what it is that the community are telling them, that I will not be considering that, is simply wrong. How on earth can we expect to go about having consultation in this city if, in regard to the very fact of doing consultation, the Canberra Liberals are going to accuse it of not being genuine?
Can I give you some facts, Mr Assistant Speaker: 7,600 responses to a survey; public meetings at each of Canberra’s seven community councils, attended by around a total of 350 people altogether; a range of other public meetings with residents’ groups, such as a number of retirement villages in the inner north, Gungahlin and Tuggeranong; over 1,000 people visiting one of the pop-up roadshows in shopping centres in each region across Canberra and at key CIT campuses and at the universities; 460 emails and written submissions; dozens of face-to-face meetings and conversations with key stakeholders, such as school principals, peak bodies and others; and a number of representations, I know, to many people in this place.
The Canberra Liberals are simply wrong that there has not been extensive consultation. Do they have another definition of what extensive community consultation looks like? Seriously, it closed on Sunday. Any government going about decent policymaking and decent community consultation needs time.
What has been really remarkable in all of this discussion is that I thought maybe there would be one contribution that showed any sense of what a good public transport network looks like—one contribution about the challenges of managing a complex public transport network in a city like ours; one contribution from the Canberra Liberals about what it might take to deliver an efficient, reliable public transport system. But there was not one. They have simply engaged in scaremongering. I want to absolutely assure the Canberra community that we are listening to their feedback. I will not put up with some of the ridiculous scaremongering that we have seen from the Canberra Liberals.
I want to put some facts on the table here about school buses. True to form, deep in the DNA of the Liberal Party is their ability to whip up fear campaigns. Everyone in the community knows this. But let me be very clear about what we are doing: we are seeking to invest public resources in a public transport network for all Canberrans. At the moment eight per cent of Canberrans use the bus network. At the moment around 13 per cent of all schoolchildren catch the public transport network to school—13 per cent of schoolkids. That is around 10,000. Around 2,000 of these are primary school kids. Around 8,000 are high school and college kids. That means about
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