Page 191 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 13 February 2019
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businesses. But I am also incredibly frustrated that we are still seeing local businesses suffer. This motion is about finding a practical way forward to help those in our community that are still being impacted by light rail construction. And this is not just in the Gungahlin town centre but throughout the entire light rail corridor.
This motion is a genuine attempt from the Canberra Liberals to support local businesses in the north of Canberra who have suffered due to prolonged construction activities. Specifically, when it comes to light rail, we were meant to have the service up and running by now. The promise was made that we would have an operational service by 21 December 2018. And yet here we are in February 2019, nearly two months on, and the project is still in a state of chaos and with no finite completion date.
Problems include re-laying tracks, issues with cabling, late milestones, the stops are a mess, and multiple closures of traffic lanes, intersections and even roads. If local businesses ran like this they would all be broke. Traders all along the light rail corridor have been forced to endure this incompetence and have suffered. It is now at a point that it is not just local businesses who are feeling the pain but all Canberrans. Even those who were fierce supporters of the light rail are now at a point of frustration. Even those who do not live or work near the construction are sick of the mess and the noise, not to mention the cost of this project.
For the communities in the north of Canberra, I think we need to take the term “road rage” and change it to “rail rage”. It does not seem to matter which way you drive to escape the construction. Commuters try the Barton Highway, Gundaroo Drive, Horse Park Drive, Flemington Road, Majura Parkway or even, heaven forbid, Northbourne Avenue. The impact of this construction is everywhere, and at the heat of it all is light rail.
Just when you think one area, intersection or road is complete, they dig it up again. I struggle to find one part, one section or one stop that is actually complete. I cannot decide if the colour that best represents Canberra’s north is the orange of the bollards and witches’ hats, the yellow and black of construction and slow down signs, or just red to represent the anger residents feel. Take that anger, that frustration and triple it, because that is how local businesses feel. The commuters that are avoiding the construction areas have also avoided local businesses. It is going to take a real effort from this government to restore business confidence.
As you would be aware, in June last year we agreed in this chamber to conduct an independent audit of the impact of light rail on local businesses. Whilst the original motion I put forward was amended, I still was pleased that Minister Fitzharris agreed to support the underlying principle to assess the impact that construction was having on local businesses and the community.
Minister Fitzharris took carriage of the audit and commissioned the Canberra Business Chamber to conduct the research. As the government owned the light rail business link program, this arrangement seemed to make sense. Initially I was frustrated with the way in which the audit was initiated, the poor communication and
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