Page 2263 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 16 June 2009
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Tuesday, 16 June 2009
The Assembly met at 10 am.
(Quorum formed.)
MR SPEAKER (Mr Rattenbury) took the chair, made a formal recognition that the Assembly was meeting on the lands of the traditional owners, and asked members to stand in silence and pray or reflect on their responsibilities to the people of the Australian Capital Territory.
Petitions
Ministerial responses
The Clerk: The following responses to petitions have been lodged by a minister:
By Mr Stanhope, Minister for Transport, dated 21 April 2009, in response to a petition lodged by Ms Hunter on 26 February 2009 concerning light rail.
Transport—light rail system—petition No 95
The response read as follows:
The ACT Government notes the Petition submitted by the petitioners, tabled by Ms Meredith Hunter MLA on 26 February 2009, and makes the following comments:
• The ACT Government recognises through Weathering the Change: the ACT Climate Change Strategy and other policies and practices the real and significant threat that climate change poses for the people and places of the ACT. The Government also acknowledges that transport contributes to around 24% of the ACT’s greenhouse emissions.
• The Light Rail Submission to Infrastructure Australia (IA) was prepared for the ACT Government by national accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC). It found that light rail in Canberra would cost around $2 billion. This amount is higher than previous estimates due to increases in construction costs, the 30 year longer time period for the costings requested by IA, the inclusion of items (such as a ticketing system) that were not included in a 2004 public transport study and a more realistic allowance for construction staging and contingencies (e.g. to cover the costs of events resulting in unforseen delays or cost increases). This costing was prepared by PwC, which has considerable experience in assessing similar proposals in other Australian jurisdictions; The Light Rail Submission is available at www.tams.act.gov.au/move/light_rail
• A study into transport options for Canberra undertaken during the development of the Sustainable Transport Plan in 2004 found that there are a range of technologies that can deliver reduced emissions from public transport in the ACT. This was confirmed in the Light Rail Submission prepared for IA, where PwC advised that bus rapid transit could be a viable
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