Page 3974 - Week 11 - Thursday, 26 September 2019

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community, particularly with the compliance targeting team which has been targeting both illegal dumping and littering in the community, and that has led to a significant number of engagements and also quite significant fines being issued in relation to illegal dumping.

MISS C BURCH: Minister, how do you reconcile the removal of this reporting option with your stated aim to support a cleaner Canberra by reducing the amount of litter in our streets?

MR STEEL: I refer the member to my first answer.

Sport—GIO Stadium parking

MR MILLIGAN: My question is to the Minister for Transport and Minister for City Services. Minister, as you would be aware, the Canberra Raiders and Rabbitohs preliminary final on Friday night has been sold out, with 20,000 fans expected to watch this blockbuster game at GIO Stadium. Minister, with only 3,000 car spaces at the venue what arrangements have you made to ensure that there are enough public transport options to get Canberrans to and from the stadium?

MR BARR: The arrangements for this match of course sit with Venues Canberra. There is free public transport provision for all ticket holders to the event. Additional buses have been put on to accommodate a crowd of that size. It is anticipated to be around 28,200, give or take five or ten people either way, with additional standing room capacity for around 1,200 made available. There is extra provision and there will be additional staff on to manage access to and from the venue before and after the match.

MR MILLIGAN: Chief Minister, will you target NRL fans with parking infringements once again this Friday night, noting your failure to provide adequate parking and public transport?

MR BARR: Firstly, the government and individual ministers are not targeting anyone. I need to make that very clear. Parking operations will seek to ensure that people park safely and legally. The last thing we want is, at the encouragement of the shadow minister, someone to be hit by a car or injured at the event. Particularly as this event will start and finish in darkness, we do not want there to be any illegal parking or unsafe parking at this event. There are more than enough additional buses being provided, with free transport.

I would remind Mr Milligan that the precinct, the venue, is in fact owned by the Australian government. It is not an ACT government venue. We do not have the capacity to provide car parking for 28,000 cars at the event. It is physically limited by the surrounds of the Australian Sports Commission and the Australian Institute of Sport. This line of questioning is juvenile and irresponsible, and reflects an alarming approach to public safety. Those who argued yesterday about abiding by the law now want to override that for the sake of a cheap headline, the sort of disgusting behaviour that we have come to expect from those opposite.


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