Page 3287 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 10 November 2021
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replacement services were offered. Again, this is not necessary because there is no evidence that there is cracking at this time in the ACT in relation to the light rail vehicles that are in operation.
In relation to the future procurement for stage 2 of light rail, and similar to stage 1, we have a rigorous governance framework in place. This includes a light rail project board with multi-agency representation and independent board members as well, with decades of experience in delivering major infrastructure projects, including rail infrastructure.
We have a governance framework that also includes review by the expenditure review committee and, of course, cabinet as well. So we have a robust framework in place that will consider these issues as part of future procurement. Of course, we will be engaging directly with CAF and Canberra Metro as we go forward.
The government has taken rapid and practical steps to understand whether there is a problem here, confirm that our fleet is safe and able to continue operating, and put the right processes in place for ongoing, proactive monitoring as light rail services keep running.
What has Mr Parton done? He does what he always does—fly off the handle without a scrap of evidence to go on and make outrageous claims that often have no basis in reality. The only loose unit here is Mr Parton. In the hushed tones and wild eyes of an internet conspiracy video, Mr Parton stood beside the light rail tracks and suggested to Canberrans that there would be cost blowouts and service cancellations galore because of the issues identified in New South Wales—except that he knew full well that there is no current evidence of any issue in the ACT in relation to our light rail system because my office told him so last Friday afternoon. But like any good shock jock, he cares far more about drumming up anger and uncertainty than he does about the actual facts in relation to our light rail system.
This goes to a general approach by the Canberra Liberals. We have been seeing a pattern of behaviour whereby they will take any opportunity to attack light rail—attack a light rail system that has been incredibly popular and has been running very well for the last 2½ years.
In a media interview earlier today—it took Mr Parton a while—but he finally said that he supported light rail coming down to the south side. In reality, we know that the Canberra Liberals’ support for light rail is not even a millimetre deep. Scratch the surface and what you see is exactly the same blinkered, ideological opposition that has been their position since Zed Seselja was sitting on that side of the table eight years ago.
This motion, I fear, is part of a concerted campaign by Mr Parton and the Liberals to undermine light rail because they never want to see light rail stage 2 actually get built to Woden. That is what it is about at the end of the day—their approach. That is what Mr Parton’s last motion in this place, on stage 2A and the business case, was about. The Liberals were scaremongering about the development of stage 2. It is what this
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