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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 10 Hansard (4 September) . . Page.. 3061 ..

MR DE DOMENICO (continuing):

clear to members that this is not the case. This Government has shown, and will continue to show, an unwavering level of support for the fast train to Sydney and for such a train to be built as a matter of priority. I need to remind Mr Langton that it was the Federal Labor Government, the ACT Labor Government and then the ACT Liberal Government that put their money up front and said, "Let us go ahead with the study". It was the former New South Wales Liberal Government and now the New South Wales Labor Government, both interested - - -

Mr Berry: I thought you did not listen to the ABC.

MR DE DOMENICO: I do not.

Mr Berry: He was on there this morning. You seem to know a bit about what he said.

MR DE DOMENICO: You might have listened. No, I am well briefed, Mr Berry. The New South Wales Government, under both the Liberals and Labor, has this incredible passion for this thing called the Tilt-train, which is yesterday's technology. That needs to be noted. We have gone to great lengths to point out that, combined with an international airport within the region, Mr Wood, and the airfreight hub in Canberra, a fast train service to Sydney, and perhaps eventually to Melbourne, because the Victorian Government is very interested, will have significant benefits not just for the ACT but for the region and the nation. I have noted with some interest the remarks by the Commonwealth Minister for Transport, John Sharp, that the Canberra Airport could be upgraded to international standard at minimal cost and that such an initiative would be complementary to a fast train link to Sydney. So in this context the ACT is very keen to have the fast train proposal progressed quickly. We would love to have it running by the Olympics, of course, and we said that from the very start.

Apparently, Mr Langton has raised various issues on radio this morning in an attempt to cover up the fact that the New South Wales Government managed the technical study. It was the New South Wales Government alone that managed the technical study. Expected to take three months, it has now taken five months. That is one fact. It was agreed that the study would look at three Tilt-train options - the option, I understand, preferred by New South Wales. It has looked at over a dozen options, including seven Tilt-train alternatives. We continually got this thing from New South Wales about wanting to build Tilt-trains, even though they have been told that it is old technology, archaic technology, superseded by both the French train system and the German system that is coming into line as well. Mr Speaker, we wrote to the New South Wales Government in May of this year asking for an early completion of the study. In June New South Wales attempted to include another Tilt-train alternative in the study. I understand that this has been a significant element in delaying the report.

I was pleased to hear the New South Wales Transport Minister, Mr Langton, saying publicly that the New South Wales State Rail Authority has no impact on the New South Wales Government's consideration of this issue. There certainly have been some concerns expressed by a number of parties that much of the delay in this project was the result of State Rail attempting to protect their monopoly, and in particular the one route they own which comes close to making a profit, which happens to be the one between Canberra and Sydney.

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