ACT Government tells Humphries to get on board
Posted on April 9, 2010 by by thedude
It seems that Chief Minister Jon Stanhope didn’t like Senator Humphries comments regarding pay parking near the Parliamentary Triangle and has published a media release about it. 500 buses, yet Humphries won’t get on board
More than 500 ACTION buses travel through the Parliamentary Triangle each work day – including a REDEX service every 15 minutes. But Liberal Senator Gary Humphries, bunkered in his Parliament House office, can’t see or hear them go by.
Chief Minister Jon Stanhope said today that Senator Humphries’ recent bizarre comments about pay parking and public transport showed just how much he had lost touch with the concerns of Canberrans since he led the Liberals to a resounding defeat in the 2001 ACT elections.
The Chief Minister said Senator Humphries’ comments showed that he had no interest in promoting a truly sustainable transport system for the ACT, and no interest in encouraging Canberrans to combat climate change.
“Perhaps, like his Leader, Tony Abbott, Mr Humphries no longer believes climate change is real. It is hard to think of any other reason to account for his absurd attack on pay parking in the Parliamentary Triangle – or his contempt for voters who work in Civic, Belconnen, Woden and Tuggeranong, who already do their bit for sustainability by paying for the luxury of driving to work.
“One of the real barriers to the creation of a genuinely sustainable public transport system in Canberra is the fact that workers in the Parliamentary Triangle do not have to pay for parking.
“As long as parking in the Parliamentary Triangle remains free, there is not much incentive for Commonwealth Public Servants to hop on the 500 buses that run right past their workplaces each and every day. And it seems that the Liberal Party in the ACT is determined to keep those buses as empty as it possibly can.”
But is this really about climate change? I doubt it, why don’t we ask some of the investors who will make millions of dollars of the carpark what they think? do they care about climate change? and if the government wants Canberrans to use public transport then maybe it is about time for the government to actually improve the current transport system because at the moment it just doesn’t work.
