Page 1445 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 6 May 2015
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Light rail network project—
Capital Metro Light Rail Project to be delivered through Canberra’s first large-scale private partnership—Katy Gallagher MLA—ACT Labor Policy Statement, dated 21 September 2012.
Labor backs light rail—ABC News article, dated 21 September 2012.
Labor unveil plan for light rail—Canberra Times article, dated 22 September 2012.
Given that this government have been elected with light rail as a central plank of our policy, it is only right that we honour their wishes, as evidenced by their support and reflected by the members in this place, and proceed with light rail.
As a government, we will not put Canberra’s future on hold. It is not in the territory’s best interests to hold up the delivery of the first stage of light rail for Canberra. In fact, the project time frames are consistent with infrastructure projects of this size, and it does not give the industry confidence if we start changing those time frames. Investor confidence has already taken a hit following the threats made by the Canberra Liberals in recent weeks. To maintain investor confidence and attract large-scale investors and developers to the territory, we must honour our commitments.
The Canberra Liberals have recently made claims that if they win the next election they will tear up a signed and commenced light rail construction project. They believe that the Victorian state government set a precedent for cancelling contracts in Australia when they announced in February this year that they would pay more than $300 million to cancel existing contracts for Melbourne’s East West Link. The question has to be asked: what exactly would the average Canberra family feel they should pay for Mr Coe to dishonour a contract, “to tear it up”, to use his words? How would they feel if the money already invested in this project was wasted and the significant economic benefits of light rail were never realised?
Let us be very clear: we are not just talking about the costs to terminate a contract; we are talking about the money that will not come to the territory if this project does not proceed. Let us be very clear: the $60 million in federal government money for this project will not be available if this project does not go ahead. The Prime Minister and the Treasurer have made that very clear. The $60 million contribution from the commonwealth asset recycling scheme is not transferable. Even more, there are no other projects ready to go in the territory that would meet the standards required by the federal government for productive infrastructure. Further, the Prime Minister and the Treasurer made clear that upgrades to existing bus network infrastructure are not eligible under the asset recycling scheme.
Our commitment to build light rail for Canberra was not based on a whim. In deciding to commit to the project the government relied on an extensive range of studies undertaken to prepare the business case, including the city to Gungahlin transit corridor concept design report. That report found that light rail offered greater benefits due to the additional social and economic benefits that this type of infrastructure
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