Mr STYLES - 2013-02-12
Can you advise the House on any Country Liberals government initiatives that are improving passenger amenities and services on the Darwin bus network?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Sanderson for a great question. I was excited to be travelling on one of the Darwin buses yesterday. I congratulate three of my departments. It is not very common to talk about three portfolio areas. The Department of Transport, the Department of Infrastructure and the Department of Corporate Information Services have come forward together to put WiFi on Darwin buses ...
Mr McCARTHY: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I am glad to hear the new CLP minister acknowledge a Labor initiative. He can sit down now.
Madam SPEAKER: There is no point of order, member for Barkly. Minister.
Mr GILES: Thank you, Madam Speaker. The transition from opposition into government and government to opposition can be quite difficult. Some people fit into their roles very well, some do not. I imagine going from a minister’s position to an opposition person’s position is very hard, but it is good to see the member for Barkly, the opposition’s spokesperson for Transport, is still keeping the transport initiative alive. He has taken to dressing like Hector the Road Safety Cat. Congratulations, shadow minister, you are doing a great job.
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, please tone down your language in regard to other people’s dress.
Mr GILES: Sorry, Madam Speaker. It was not a negative on his dress; it was reflective when I walked into the Chamber. The WiFi initiative yesterday was really exciting. I note the interjection saying it was a Labor initiative. Did you know for the last two years there have been two buses driving around Darwin with WiFi enabled capacity that was never enabled? I said I wanted WiFi on the buses and at the interchanges. At 10 am yesterday Palmerston, Casuarina and Darwin bus interchanges had free WiFi turned on. There was a testing period and it was turned on yesterday at 10 am.
I jumped on a bus at 2 pm yesterday at Darwin Bus Interchange, got on my phone and checked it out. That bus is now operating. There are two buses driving around Darwin - for anyone who catches routes 9 and 10, they now have free WiFi on them 90 minutes a day with 100 MB. If that model does not work we can increase it, but 90 minutes and 100 MB is what we have started with. Next week three more buses will be turned on. I advise the House and the general public that route 4 will start next week; the other two routes have not been confirmed yet.
From March, there will be two buses in Alice Springs. What an exciting initiative. This is part of the new modern age of how we do things with public transport.
These guys over here did nothing. They are not sure of the Internet and how it works. We are getting a modern public transport fleet which allows people greater connectivity. It mends fences, builds bridges, all these things, and people are able to connect. It will improve productivity for people who want to catch the bus and provide a greater initiative for people to use public transport.
I thank the department and encourage all Territorians to catch the bus and use the free WiFi.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Sanderson for a great question. I was excited to be travelling on one of the Darwin buses yesterday. I congratulate three of my departments. It is not very common to talk about three portfolio areas. The Department of Transport, the Department of Infrastructure and the Department of Corporate Information Services have come forward together to put WiFi on Darwin buses ...
Mr McCARTHY: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I am glad to hear the new CLP minister acknowledge a Labor initiative. He can sit down now.
Madam SPEAKER: There is no point of order, member for Barkly. Minister.
Mr GILES: Thank you, Madam Speaker. The transition from opposition into government and government to opposition can be quite difficult. Some people fit into their roles very well, some do not. I imagine going from a minister’s position to an opposition person’s position is very hard, but it is good to see the member for Barkly, the opposition’s spokesperson for Transport, is still keeping the transport initiative alive. He has taken to dressing like Hector the Road Safety Cat. Congratulations, shadow minister, you are doing a great job.
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, please tone down your language in regard to other people’s dress.
Mr GILES: Sorry, Madam Speaker. It was not a negative on his dress; it was reflective when I walked into the Chamber. The WiFi initiative yesterday was really exciting. I note the interjection saying it was a Labor initiative. Did you know for the last two years there have been two buses driving around Darwin with WiFi enabled capacity that was never enabled? I said I wanted WiFi on the buses and at the interchanges. At 10 am yesterday Palmerston, Casuarina and Darwin bus interchanges had free WiFi turned on. There was a testing period and it was turned on yesterday at 10 am.
I jumped on a bus at 2 pm yesterday at Darwin Bus Interchange, got on my phone and checked it out. That bus is now operating. There are two buses driving around Darwin - for anyone who catches routes 9 and 10, they now have free WiFi on them 90 minutes a day with 100 MB. If that model does not work we can increase it, but 90 minutes and 100 MB is what we have started with. Next week three more buses will be turned on. I advise the House and the general public that route 4 will start next week; the other two routes have not been confirmed yet.
From March, there will be two buses in Alice Springs. What an exciting initiative. This is part of the new modern age of how we do things with public transport.
These guys over here did nothing. They are not sure of the Internet and how it works. We are getting a modern public transport fleet which allows people greater connectivity. It mends fences, builds bridges, all these things, and people are able to connect. It will improve productivity for people who want to catch the bus and provide a greater initiative for people to use public transport.
I thank the department and encourage all Territorians to catch the bus and use the free WiFi.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016