Speech in the ACT Legislative Assembly

Well Station Drive Extension

9 February 2010

I rise this afternoon to speak on the Matter of Public Importance raised by the Leader of the Canberra Liberals, Zed Seselja.

The people of Gungahlin are consistently treated shabbily by this Government. In this instance, it’s not only the people of Harrison that are hard done by, but in fact all people who will use the Well Station Drive extension. This issue compounds the follies of this Government when it comes to Gungahlin. Whether it be the Gungahlin Drive Extension, the pool, public transport, sporting facilities, the missing Gungahlin shop-front, the lack of presence of a Govt department, and more. The people of Gungahlin deserve better.

In November last year, the Assembly passed a motion I moved which called on the ACT Government to re-align the Well Station Road extension to the east of a small hill opposite Carpentaria Street. The Assembly passed this motion because of the significant concern expressed by residents of Harrison and the Gungahlin Community Council.

The current alignment would put 20,000 cars per day just 20 metres from a residential street. The proposed re-alignment would address significant issues for the community – it would reduce noise for residents and ensure that their quality of life is maintained. The extension would also mean that Well Station Road had a safer intersection with Horse Park Drive.

The state of play was described by Alan Kerlin of the Gungahlin Community Council in an email to all MLAs on 7 February:

The current alignment would put what is planned to be a four-lane road carrying 20,000 cars per day just 20 metres away from a residential street. At the junction with Horse Park Drive, the existing noise abatement embankment would be breached, allowing extensive road noise from Horse Park Drive into that entire end of Harrison. And the four metre difference in elevation between the two roads would require significant fill, creating a massive wall in front of the houses. We are assured that effective noise buffering would be provided, but to achieve this would require at least another metre added to an already major embankment. We are yet to see plans as to how this can be achieved.

The realignment residents are seeking would take a more direct route. It would use the hill to provide a natural noise and view buffer for the residents of Carpentaria Street, and for people in many other homes behind them who will be adversely affected by increased noise from the road. Where the two roads would meet, there is much less difference in elevation, off-setting some of the filling required by this route being close to an existing ephemeral creek.

In the typical style of this Government, they did not listen to the views given through the consultation period. For 9 of the 10 day consultation, the wrong email address was given, but despite this significant feedback was received by the Department. The Government also conducted consultation in the development of the territory plan – but this was before residents even lived there!

Now this Government has decided to ignore the will of the Assembly, and has bullied the Greens into submission. This whole debacle highlights both the arrogance of the Government and the gutlessness of the Greens. In spite of Ms Le Couteur admitting they did not have final or through costings, she and her colleagues went back on their word and have turned their back on the people of Harrison. There can be no excuse for what the Greens have done. They have let down the people of Gungahlin and I hope all remember this sad day.

This is what Ms Le Couteur said in the Chamber on 11 November:

Given all of this, we think there is merit in re-evaluating the current proposed alignment of the Well Station Drive extension and, in particular, consulting the community to redesign this to most likely an eastern alignment. As it is an arterial road, it should not be through the suburb. While Harrison 4 is currently in the design phase, this is the time to sort the problem out. While we have got the bit of Harrison which is next to it still to be sorted out, it would seem an ideal time to finally fix this problem.

I agree with her comments. She went on to say:

This is a $7 million project; so it is really important to ensure that we get it right rather than have to try to tinker with it afterwards.

Ms Le Couteur, they’re wise words. She hit the nail on the head when she said:

Mr Coe would not be moving this motion and the Greens would not be supporting it if the government was prepared to listen more to local communities.

Yet, Ms Le Couteur has sold-out, ignored her previous statements and is suddenly satisfied.

In December last year I was told by the Minister’s office that the realignment of the extension would cost several million dollars.  The “throw-away line” justification for this was the reconstructing of a bridge and the alluvial soil in the area. What the Minister’s office gave us what were essentially back of envelope estimates. When I or my colleagues from the Canberra Liberals make a decision as important as the placement of an arterial road, we are not satisfied with such shabby information.

In December, due to the lack of information given to me by the Minister, I submitted a freedom of information request which was returned in January.Of the few hundred pages, in that FOI, there is no more substantiation of the cost estimate.  Nothing in the documents relies on more than verbal discussions of what the cost would be.

In addition to this, there is no recognition of any of the savings that would be made in the realignment.  And, there would be savings if the eastern alignment was chosen. Such savings would include:

  • No need for a noise abatement wall.
  • The new location for the intersection would mean that it should be a different design to the current location, and therefore the new bridging would be unnecessary.
  • There would now also be an increased area of land available for the Well Station 4 estate.

Only one thing has changed since November – and that is a result of another flip-flop by the Greens.  The Greens are clearly more beholden to the Labor Party than some of their public rhetoric would have us believe.  Far from being a third force in ACT politics, they are a mere appendage to ACT Labor.The Greens have breached the trust placed in them by Harrison residents.

In the words of Harrison resident Uday Kaza:

When ACT was granted Self Governance Status, all Canberrans got ecstatic and thought their own people will make decisions in their best interest and decide the future of Canberra, but little did they imagine that in a matter of just 20 years that their own people will turn blind towards them nor did they dream that their own people will ignore their legitimate concerns.

Members, it is not too late to solve this problem. There is still time to right this wrong and to protect the Harrison residents’ livelihood, the safety of motorists and the correct process for decision making.

I urge all Members to visit the site, to chat with the residents, to attend the Gungahlin Community Council meetings and to research the proposal for the eastern alignment.