Page 3499 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 18 September 2019
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been removed which makes reliance on the Wanniassa park-and-ride stop even more important. Constituents have brought this matter to my attention. They are concerned for their safety and that of their friends and neighbours.
The cuts to the bus service mean that more and more Wanniassa residents are forced to use the park-and-ride service. It has flow-on effects to the nearby Wanniassa shops partly because more people are using the park-and-ride stop, which means that it is harder to get a car park at the Wanniassa shops. I understand that the government is considering introducing some short-term parking at Wanniassa shops. I am not convinced that the area identified is the best possible area, but at least some action is taking place because this has impacts on the traders at the Wanniassa shops. If people drive to the Wanniassa shops to do their shopping they cannot get a car park so they drive off and park somewhere else.
There are a number of flow-on issues. I have been out there to see the problem for myself after it was raised with me, and I went on purpose on a rainy day. There were mud and water flowing across the path because the location of the path from the car park to the Wanniassa park-and-ride stop goes down a bit of a hill and up the other side. This can be a bit difficult for older people, but that is not the particular concern. The reason residents are concerned is that the path cuts through a floodway.
The new Wanniassa rain collection area has been built about a hundred metres past where the path is. The water is intended to flow down that gulley to the wetlands and it brings water and mud across the path. A number of different people have told me that it makes the path slippery. For people who may be a little frail it is hard for them to traverse the mud and the water and the slipperiness of the path and it is even more difficult for people with a mobility impairment.
This motion is relatively simple and straightforward; it calls on the government to take steps to assess how this path and access to the Wanniassa park and ride may be improved and report back to the Assembly later this year with the result of those investigations. Obviously the intent is not just to have a bit of a look and report back to the Assembly; the intent is to create improvements to make that path safer and better.
This is a show of support for the residents of Wanniassa that the Assembly is listening to their concerns. Not only do they appear to be very strongly disadvantaged by the recent bus cuts but it is also difficult for them to access the park and ride in their own area. This motion being agreed to would show that we take their concerns seriously. It is not an excessive motion; it is not overly demanding. It shows residents of Canberra, specifically Wanniassa and the surrounding suburbs, that we take their concerns seriously, we take their safety seriously and we will act on their concerns.
I hope that the government will support the motion today. It is the right thing to do for residents of Wanniassa and Tuggeranong more generally. I look forward to their support for this motion today.
MR STEEL (Murrumbidgee—Minister for City Services, Minister for Multicultural Affairs, Minister for Recycling and Waste Reduction, Minister for Roads and Active
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