Page 458 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 18 February 2015
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The government may say that this cost is not linked to light rail, but the fact is: would the government be doing this work if it was not for light rail? If the answer is no, then the cost should be added to the $783 million figure. If the answer is yes, then the government cannot attribute the land sales of these public housing complexes as part of the benefits of light rail. I will say that again. If the government was not going to do the public housing redevelopment if it was not for light rail, then you have to put the cost of reconstruction onto light rail. However, if the government does admit that the reconstruction of public housing is attributed to light rail, then so must the land sales also be attributed to the public housing project. The cost of land sales on Northbourne Avenue will simply offset some of the costs of reconstructing the very dwellings which are being knocked down as part of the government’s so-called renewal of Northbourne Avenue.
The ACT government says that light rail is all about urban renewal. That does not mean much for the 94 per cent of Canberrans that are not within walking distance of light rail. How is light rail going to bring renewal to them? The fact is that this project is going to suck the life out of the rest of Canberra. In fact, that is exactly what the Ernst & Young job report said. Page 16 said:
… the majority of the jobs accommodated along the corridor will not be new to the ACT. Rather, they will locate in the corridor instead of somewhere else within the territory.
I will say that again:
… the majority of the jobs accommodated along the corridor will not be new to the ACT. Rather, they will locate in the corridor instead of somewhere else within the territory.
So the jobs on the light rail corridor are not new jobs, just ones that the ACT government has sucked from elsewhere in the ACT. So not only will Canberrans be paying for it through their rates, taxes, fees and charges, but they will also be paying for it through their communities.
I will deviate for a minute and discuss the jobs aspect of the light rail project again. Rather than the ridiculous 50,000 figure which Minister Corbell keeps foolishly saying, let us see what the EY report said. I quote from page 2:
For light rail construction: the total number of jobs that will be supported is estimated to be 3,560, spread over the construction period (2016-2018). 1,450 of those are direct and around 2,100 indirect jobs.
It goes on to say:
Recognising that labour market constraints mean not all of the gross ‘footprint’ jobs are achievable, the labour market modelling finds that around 960 net additional direct and indirect jobs will be supported during the assumed peak of construction in 2017. The equivalent figures for 2016 and 2018 are 720 and 240, respectively.
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