Page 3836 - Week 11 - Thursday, 24 November 2022
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
We need to build our city-wide light rail, and we need to do it as quickly as possible. I have been getting regular updates on the milestones in this project. I encourage the opposition to work with the ACT government a bit better to try and understand how a major project like this is running. I have also been asking transparency questions on the public record, because, like Mr Parton, I hear transparency questions from my constituents quite often, and I find myself having a lot of thoughtful, detailed conversations about how commercial negotiations are run and when information can and should be released.
In the 2022-23 ACT budget estimates hearings on 25 August, I asked the minister when light rail stage 2A will have a signed contract. Minister Steel said that there is procurement underway for the stage 2A works component but that work will not start until after we have raised London Circuit. He said that in around December we would see a works approval application made to the NCA for stage 2A, and we have just now heard that restated. We are getting updates, if members are listening.
I have asked several more questions about stages and about the release of information since I came into office. I asked questions in October about planning for our future light rail network. I asked whether future indicative alignments identified by the refresh would include identification of enabling projects. That is really important; that lets us start planning future stages while we are building 2A and 2B. I was really pleased to hear that the answer to that was an unambiguous yes.
I am also pleased to see Minister Steel’s amendments, which set out really clearly all the stages that have been completed, what information has been released, and what is coming up next. The ACT government has released the stage 1 and stage 2A business cases. The ACT government has submitted the EPBC referral and obtained federal government funding commitments. The ACT government has signed the contracts for the early utility works for 2A.
The ACT government has signed contracts for five new light rail vehicles, retrofitting for the batteries on existing vehicles, and an upgraded rail depot to enable wire-free operation for stage 2. They have also commenced construction of raising London Circuit. Next up, the ACT government will lodge works approval and the DA for stage 2A, negotiate contracts for the main works, expand the depot and finish retrofitting the fleet. They cannot say exactly when the NCA will issue works approvals for 2A, but it does look as if the early legwork has been done.
I have sought transparency at every stage, but I do not insist on a full release of commercial figures during commercial negotiations. Releasing these numbers now will undermine those negotiations, which is a point that has been made so many times in here before. I understand this; I have negotiated a lot of contracts. When you are negotiating a contract, you do not state what your upper limit is—you do not state what your total budget is—because if you do that, that is what you will pay. I think anybody who has negotiated a contract understands this. When I explain to Canberrans what information gets released, and when and why we release it at certain times, I find that Canberrans are smart; they get it.
Canberrans do not want us to give away our negotiating power. That would be really, really irresponsible, and I think most people understand that that would not get us a
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video