Page 3190 - Week 10 - Tuesday, 18 October 2022
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In relation to government buildings, the ACT government undertook a detailed investigation in 2020 of its own buildings which contain potentially combustible cladding. The government cladding scheme identified 23 government owned buildings that contained cladding that needed replacing. These sites included schools, health facilities and public housing across the ACT. Of these buildings, 17 have had cladding removed under the cladding scheme by Major Projects Canberra, and two buildings have been remediated by the Education Directorate. The remediation options ranged from full replacement of all cladding to the removal of certain elements of cladding to achieve a lower risk ranking. The recommended level of remediation varies by building and cladding elements, based on risk assessment criteria. Work is well underway at the four remaining sites, and all of these are expected to be completed by the end of the year. Current cost estimates indicate that a total of around $17 million will be required to complete all the works.
MR PARTON (Brindabella) (11.49): I want to focus most of my remarks in this space on the light rail project, which Labor and the Greens are “getting on with delivering”, but I am not sure that they really are, because the question is: when exactly will the tram be delivered? When will 2A be complete? When will Woden be complete? When will Tuggeranong be delivered? What month? What year? What decade? At the end of the day, the final question comes down to: in what century are any of those projects actually going to be delivered?
There is nothing in this budget that answers any of those questions. When I asked them in the estimates hearings, they could not provide the year in which the tram would arrive in Woden. There is nothing in this budget that says that they are serious about delivering for Canberrans.
Whenever Mr Steel rises to speak on anything, he says, “We’re getting on with delivering.” But I am not sure who he is trying to convince. I do not know if it is actually a self-motivation thing or who he is trying to convince. But I think the proof is in the pudding, and they are not really getting on with it. There is nothing in this budget that says that they are serious about delivering for Canberrans.
Labor and the Greens are delivering headlines; I will give them that. Down in my neck of the woods, The Our Canberra newsletter had a headline that said, “Light rail is coming”. One can only assume that means to Tuggeranong, but they did not say when—just as the budget certainly has no clues within it as to when. There was a sod-turn headline to start stage 2A, but it did not say when the tram would arrive in Woden or, indeed, when it is arriving at Commonwealth Park. There is a headline saying car parks have been taken off Canberrans to make way for tram works, but it does not say how long those car parks will remain unavailable. It does not say when the tram will arrive in Woden or in Commonwealth Park. The government know when; it is just that they are not delivering any key information.
How much will this next stage of works cost? The budget does not answer that question. When asked in estimates how much the next stage will cost, the government chose not to provide any cost information, even though work has begun. Even though the silver shovels have already been purchased for Mr Barr and Mr Steel to pose for the sod-turning photo, still the government would not share how much it will cost.
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