Page 1188 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 6 April 2016
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On top of all this they are being unbelievably dishonest with the Canberra community. The Canberra Liberals’ commitment to tear up a contract and destroy the ACT’s economic reputation will come at a huge cost. And when will Mr Coe tell all those people who have invested in their homes, often their first homes, along the light rail corridor or invested in small businesses along the light rail corridor, people he will seek to represent? When will he front up to them and apologise for tearing up a contract and a project that they rightly expect a democratically elected government will deliver? What are they not going to fund to pay for this? What are they not going to do and when will they tell us? Perhaps last week’s bus plan is the first inkling. When will they tell us what local services they will cut to deliver their plan?
Barry Watkins, regional manager for MR Cagney, belled the cat in yesterday’s Canberra Times when he said the hard work was yet to come. The Canberra Liberals will have to work out which of the six proposed fast routes would be viable and which suburban services would be reduced to pay for them. When will the Canberra Liberals tell us the cost? And when will they tell us what routes they will scrap? We need to be smart about how we allocate our transport resources across the territory, and I am confident with our plan the result will be an integrated bus and light rail system that works better for everyone in every suburb.
Light rail has a proven ability to change settlement and employment patterns and to catalyse urban renewal. By integrating light rail with buses we can help our city realise its full potential as a vibrant, lively and attractive place to live. The light rail project is not just about moving people from A to B. It will unlock the potential of a first-stage transport corridor and bring social and community benefits to Canberra by increasing accessibility and encouraging better use of urban spaces. The light rail corridor will service the Civic shopping and business precinct, the Dickson area, EPIC and Thoroughbred Park as well as the inner north and our city’s fastest growing centre, Gungahlin.
As we have seen from other cities around the world, light rail also improves commercial occupancy rates, underpins a rise in residential property value and brings increased foot traffic to otherwise underdeveloped areas. Light rail has the potential to change our city. Just this week we revealed the added benefit of linking light rail to a future high-speed rail route from Canberra Airport to the city.
The choice is very clear. We need an integrated transport network that is convenient, efficient, affordable, reliable and integrated. Light rail is one part of this plan, as are buses. And the Chief Minister has indicated that Labor will take the second stage of a light rail network to this year’s election. This is very important. If we do not act now it will be a generation before it is able to be built. If there are people in Canberra who like the idea of light rail but cannot yet support it because they do not know yet when they may be able to use it, can I say to them, “If we do not do this now we will never do it.” It is a hard reform but it is essential to our future. We can afford it because for every dollar we spend on light rail we will spend $10 on our roads, footpaths and parks.
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