Page 3127 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 20 August 2019
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But this is something we have become accustomed to seeing. Whenever the going gets tough or the solutions are not easy to come by, this government simply moves the goalposts and calls it a success. Canberrans are sick and tired of being treated like rubbish. They are sick and tired of their complaints falling on deaf ears.
As we mentioned countless times last week, the people most significantly impacted by these changes are the most vulnerable in our community; it is those who have no choice but to work weekends and those who have no choice but to rely on public transport services and those who do not have a car and cannot afford the Uber or taxi when their bus does not show up.
This is why I am calling on this Assembly to censure Minister Steel today for his failure to address the ongoing workforce planning issues in the transport portfolio and to deliver the weekend bus network, as was promised to Canberrans. When a minister fails to do their job to deliver on their promises, it is Canberrans who ultimately suffer. In not only his failure to address the issues to deliver on his commitment and keep his promise but also his inability to own up to these failings, Minister Steel had the audacity to stand up in question time and in response to my motion last week and lead Canberrans down the garden path, to pat himself on the back for the increase in patronage figures but not mention once the decision he had already made to cut weekend services.
Ms Le Couteur absolutely got it right in her media release on Friday when she said:
… cutting weekend services is unacceptable—everyone deserves a public transport service. This isn’t a real solution. The Government’s plan comes as a surprise to us, given that less than 48 hours ago, the Government committed to a push from the Greens for a month-long action plan to properly investigate a range of ways to make weekend services more reliable. It’s also dismaying and disrespectful that these changes were not discussed in the Chamber, during this week’s debate.
I look forward to Ms Le Couteur’s support for my motion today. If she is a real crossbencher and if she really believes that cuts to weekend services are unacceptable and that the minister’s behaviour is dismaying and disrespectful then the Greens will support this motion today.
MS LE COUTEUR (Murrumbidgee) (10.33): I move:
Omit all words after “That this Assembly”, substitute:
“(1) notes:
(a) the recent decision from the Minister for Transport and City Services to cut weekend bus services, despite repeated commitments to resolve weekend staffing shortages;
(b) during debate in the Assembly on 14 August 2019, the Minister for Transport and City Services did not advise the Assembly that he was considering announcing cuts to weekend services within 48 hours of the Assembly’s resolution;
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