Page 100 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 13 February 2019
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Pursuant to standing order 99A, the petition, having more than 500 signatories, was referred to the Standing Committee on Environment, Transport and City Services.
The Clerk having announced that the terms of the petitions would be recorded in Hansard and referred to the appropriate ministers for response pursuant to standing order 100, the petitions were received.
Motion to take note of petitions
MADAM SPEAKER: Pursuant to standing order 98A, I propose the question:
That the petitions so lodged be noted.
School bus services—petition 4-19
MS LEE (Kurrajong) (10.02): Over the past few months we have had a lot of discussion about changes to bus routes. Many areas of Canberra are having their services changed, and it is the changes to dedicated school bus services that is a matter of concern to many Canberra parents and students.
The government has designed a new network that will require children walking further, crossing major roads and using public buses, and sometimes requiring children to change and wait at bus interchanges. The Canberra Liberals’ view on this decision has been made clear. But imagine if this is the thin end of the wedge.
As it stands, there is no school bus for students living in Fairbairn to their local schools—Campbell high or Campbell Primary School. In the afternoon some students walk from Campbell primary and Campbell high to Constitution Avenue, where they can catch an ACTION service, the No 11, to Fairbairn. However, when the new bus network comes into effect, it will no longer be necessary for students to walk, because there will be no buses to Fairbairn—none, zero, zilch. We are talking about a community where, without a dedicated school bus, students use a public bus, and now the government is removing that public bus service.
By road the route from Fairbairn to Campbell primary is almost 10 kilometres, and involves stretches of road with both 80 and 70-kilometre speed limits. In removing the only public bus that transports these children to school and back, this government is requiring these children to walk along major roads with cars whizzing past at high speeds.
It is important to know that Deane’s buses currently operates a service taking students from both Pialligo and Queanbeyan to and from Campbell every day. It is a good service, and my petitioners have made inquiries with Deane, who have said that the modest detour from Pialligo Avenue into Fairbairn would be simple, but it would require agreement from the ACT government and ACTION to allow such a detour.
My constituents have tried doing the right thing, going through their schools to the Education Directorate repeatedly since early 2017. However, their requests were met with responses that their requests would be “passed on to the school bus liaison
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