Page 2866 - Week 10 - Thursday, 7 October 2021
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
wanting to pre-empt that response, it is important to recognise that business cases are a point-in-time assessment to help governments to consider the merits of a project and decide whether to proceed. We have been through that process, we have looked at the benefits, we have looked at the context in which we were making the decision and we have agreed that building light rail to Woden will be a great thing for Canberra.
The Auditor-General is correct in pointing out that there are some things that we know today which were not included in that business case when it was undertaken several years ago. The business case did not include wire-free running, which we now know will be needed to satisfy the National Capital Authority’s approval requirements and protect the heritage values of the Parliamentary Zone. That was not an explicit requirement at the time that the business case was being developed and the decision was made.
The business case did not include raising London Circuit by six metres to deliver an at-grade intersection with London Circuit, improving the function of the corridor for light rail while improving the connectivity between the city and the lake. This is an essential precursor project whose necessity and benefits have become clear to us as we have been undertaking the initial planning to deliver light rail to Woden.
The business case did not include procuring five new wire-free enabled light rail vehicles to service the route, retrofitting the existing fleet to wire-free and modifying the Mitchell depot for wire-free operations. Those have since become apparent and formalised, and we have a contribution from the commonwealth government of $132.5 million which will contribute to paying for the extra costs associated with those elements of the project.
With these essential components factored in, we do expect that this will change all the numbers presented in the old business case. We expect the costs to be higher and we will be transparent with the Canberra community about these once we have concluded commercial negotiations for all the components of its delivery. This is a point that Mr Parton seems to have missed entirely. We are currently undertaking commercial negotiations for the delivery of this project and we want to achieve value for money in that for the territory. We are working to get the best deal for the people of Canberra, and I am committed to providing updated information on the project’s costs and how we plan to realise the benefits once we have concluded these sensitive commercial negotiations. But I will not jeopardise the cost-effective delivery of this project just because Mr Parton does not understand how major infrastructure projects are delivered.
Mr Parton has put together this pretty antagonistic amendment that is full of inflammatory language and it is hard to believe that the Canberra Liberals support light rail when they put these kinds of motions up. Maybe it was the motion yesterday, where the health restrictions that have been applied to public transport were used as some sort of reason why we should not be investing in light rail. That was in the motion yesterday on the cost of living. Seriously! You have to wonder whether the Canberra Liberals support this project when they put that sort of rubbish into motions and bring them into the Assembly.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video