Page 2583 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 10 August 2016
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If you believe Mr Hanson’s narrative, the government is doing nothing but building light rail. But what I can assure the chamber and the Canberra community is that the government—the Greens and the Labor Party—have a whole range of projects that are on the go through our education system, through the health system, through TAMS and through all the directorates. There is an enormous amount of work going on in this city. The Liberal Party approach of just trying to focus on one issue really is fairly dishonest, and I think the Canberra community will see through it.
What we know is that the Liberal Party would go so far as to actively renege on the existing contract to build the first stage of light rail in our city. This cancellation would of course come at a cost of several hundred million dollars. That is money that is simply wasted. It will evaporate into absolutely nothing for Canberra taxpayers. We hear the Liberal Party in here talking about their number one concern being the taxpayers—the Liberal Party claim to represent them and care about them—but the Liberal Party are prepared to essentially set the taxpayers’ money on fire. That is what the Liberal Party are proposing to do.
Certainly experts have already rebuffed the spurious claim that the Liberals can rescope the light rail contract into some other project. Every time Mr Hanson repeats his opposition to quality public transport infrastructure for Canberra and his promise to cancel the existing contract, I marvel at how it is so reckless, so short-sighted and so obviously inconsiderate about the future of Canberra and Canberrans. And that is really what this is about. This is about condemning future Canberrans to a city that is not ready for the future.
I also marvel at the fact that the Liberal Party want to run their whole campaign around this single oppositional issue. They say, “We hate light rail and we will not build it.” That is all they have built their platform on. We are starting to see a few other policies come through but basically it is all about what they will not do. It is predominantly about what they will not do.
I will shortly come to the unfunded and reckless spending approach that we are seeing. But the Greens’ attitude contrasts to that of the Liberal Party. Our vision looks to the long term. We believe in a long term-term vision for our city and its people, one that puts the community first, one that is sustainable and one that is fair. We are willing to take bold decisions now that will help achieve this vision for our community.
Light rail is certainly a part of this. More than anything, it is a project for the long-term sustainability and health of Canberra. It is a project full of benefits for Canberrans today and future generations of Canberrans. It is a project that is both proactive and reactive. Reactively, it responds to pressures such as growing population and congestion and limited space. Proactively, it will help cement a vision for our city that is based around high quality public transport spines, renewable energy and more compact development.
It is clear to me, and I think it is clear to anyone paying attention to ACT politics, that the Liberal Party have chosen to oppose light rail because their vision extends to a very short time-horizon, and that is the ACT election in October. Light rail is a big
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