Ms BURNET – Minister, I want to focus back in July, when you did a press release with minister Ellis in relation to the bus rapid transit and the Northern Suburbs Transit Corridor. Could you point me to the reference to the bus rapid transit in the budget papers? Is it there?
Mr ABETZ – We are busily looking. It is in budget paper 2, volume 1, on page 350 about two-thirds of the way down, before Minister for Sports and Events, under the line item titled Urban Congestion Fund.
Ms BURNET – That doesn’t sound like a BRT to me. It’s a footnote really, isn’t it? It’s about appropriation revenue.
Mr ABETZ – There are footnotes there that tell us to have a look at footnotes 1 and 12, which says –
This project includes the state and Australian government’s contributions of $52 million for Hobart public transport infrastructure planning …
and as I understand it, the City Deal, that $52 million, included that particular item to which you refer. I can understand why you asked the question because it’s not that obvious.
Ms BURNET – It’s buried. I suppose this is a pretty important project for transport in Hobart and the plans are all very well, but this week the POSS submission was made in relation to the stadium and in appendix N, page 14, 1.4.2, it talks about the stadium transport model and it relies very heavily on the bus rapid transit to be implemented. Also, there’s this significant modal shift of how people travel; it’s very ambitious, may I say. There’s an expectation that 60 per cent of people will be using some sort of public transport or non‑private transport. At the moment we have probably about 8 per cent of people, which is pretty generous, catching public transport in Greater Hobart, so how in the world do you think that sort of reliable transport model can be delivered in order to get the result of that modal shift?
Mr ABETZ – There’s a lot in that question. I don’t know how long we’ve got to answer it, but Hobart, by its nature, is in fact a transport hub where a whole lot of buses and ferries now come into the city. The infrastructure matters relating to the stadium are matters for another minister. In relation to matters that relate to transport or the provision of buses, that is something we will continue to work on, including ferry services, to get people to the stadium and if there is an event on at the stadium, be it a concert or a football game or whatever else, then people may well see that as, if you like, a day out and therefore catching a ferry across the river or down or up the river will be part and parcel of the total experience they will want to enjoy. Similarly, if they know that the city is going to be full, there’ll be a lot of interest in catching buses, as I understand happens now with Blundstone Arena. There are a number of buses that leave from the Cenotaph area where people can park and go across. These things are doable, they work and we have every confidence that they will work.
