Page 1914 - Week 07 - Thursday, 13 August 2020
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I also seek leave to table an out-of-order petition with a further 139 signatures, with the same request.
Leave granted.
MISS C BURCH: I present the following paper:
Petition which does not conform with the standing orders—Symonston—Reinstatement of bus services (139 signatures).
I am proud to support the long-stay caravan park and Sundown Villa residents today, as they, like many other Canberrans across the inner south, have been completely ignored by this old and tired Labor-Greens government.
Back in 2019 Symonston residents made submissions to the government regarding the importance of having an accessible and reliable service on Narrabundah Lane and Jerrabomberra Avenue with stops within a reasonable walking distance from their homes. On 29 April these submissions were completely ignored, and the new network saw the bus stops on these streets cut completely, stranding residents from the rest of the city. Since then, there have been two major tweaks to this disastrous bus network, yet still no acknowledgement from the minister or the government about just how badly these bus stop removals have impacted residents living at the long-stay park and Sundown Villas.
As the petition states, the bus services that previously ran down Narrabundah Lane and Jerrabomberra Avenue connected 86 tenanted sites at the Narrabundah long-stay park, as well as 85 sites at Sundown Villas, for Canberrans over 60 years of age. Many residents at these parks are vulnerable, have mobility issues, or do not have access to a car.
Let me give just a few examples of how badly these changes have impacted residents. Despite the minister having claimed that 800 metres was the maximum distance Canberrans would have to walk to their closest bus stop, the journey planners from Transport Canberra show that these walks are much longer. Narrabundah and Sundown Villa residents have to travel 3.2 kilometres, a 47-minute walk, to get to the nearest bus stop to travel to Woden. The nearest bus stop for a bus that takes them to the city is not much better, being 1.7 kilometres, a 26-minute walk away. Even somewhere a bit closer to home like Manuka is a 32-minute journey door to door, with 26 of those minutes spent walking to the bus stop on Goyder Street.
Let us be clear here. For the last 15 months, Symonston residents have been forced to walk at least twice the distance that the minister promised in order to access basic public transportation services. That is not good enough. It is not good enough for the vulnerable and mobility-impaired residents, and it is not good enough that this government has chosen to effectively isolate so many residents who rely on our bus network to get around our city.
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