Page 114 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 10 February 2016
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Of course, as we all know now, the price to build light rail, as offered by Canberra Metro, is significantly cheaper than the conservative and prudent estimation provided through the capital metro business case. Here is another example of Liberal Party scaremongering exposed. All the exaggeration—the rounding up and the casual mention of a “billion dollar project”—has been proven wrong. I have not heard anyone have the good grace to say that they were wrong; I have simply heard more shrill, more desperate proclamations, coming from Mr Coe in particular but from other members of the opposition, as the good news stories roll out about the quality of the consortium, the competitive price that has been delivered and the highly improved timetable for delivery of the project. All of these things are good news stories. Yet in the face of that good news, we simply see more and more desperate opposition coming from those on the Liberal Party benches.
I want to pick up on a particular point of Mr Coe’s motion which says that entering a light rail contract would be disrespecting the citizens of Canberra. First of all, light rail is a project for the long-term future of Canberra, for the citizens that live and travel here now and the citizens that will need to live and travel here in the future. It is the first part of a sustainable transport network; it is transport for people who want or need to travel on public transport; it is a catalyst for economic and city development; it is a way to address the pressure of the continued growth of this city; it is an environmentally friendly project, running on 100 per cent renewable energy. These are positive policies to meet the needs of Canberra citizens. The Canberra Liberals, who are not interested in things like sustainable transport or renewable energy, think it is disrespectful to the citizens of Canberra to advance these kinds of policies. I simply disagree, for all the reasons I have just outlined. This is about delivering for the citizens of Canberra.
I particularly welcome the comments made by Mr Corbell this morning. I think he made a very powerful point in arguing that the Canberra Liberals have a view that if you do not have a car you are a second-class citizen. That absolutely underlines the philosophical approach that has been taken here. The car is king as far as the Canberra Liberals are concerned; and bad luck to you if you do not want to drive, you cannot drive or you cannot afford to drive. I do not share that view that the Canberra Liberals have; I am determined that this city will provide transport for all of its citizens, not just those who choose the private motor vehicle.
The benefits that the project brings to Canberra are, of course, backed up by the capital metro business case, with its positive benefit-cost ratio. There will be millions of dollars worth of benefits delivered to Canberrans. The only way I have heard the Liberals try to rebut the cold facts of the business case is by attacking the case itself, even though it was done by leaders in the field to best practice standards.
I have a different view on what is disrespectful to Canberra citizens. It is disrespectful for the Liberal Party to have no plan for the future of growth and environmental and transport challenges in Canberra. It is disrespectful of the Canberra Liberals to commit to voiding the light rail contract and throwing away what is likely to be a substantial amount of money and work that has already been delivered. That is an amazingly disrespectful thing to do with taxpayers’ money. That money will be
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