Page 3490 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 23 November 2021

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MR STEEL: I was providing the information that we have provided to date on those issues, which are being looked at very closely by the ONRSR—the Office of the National Rail Safety Regulator—as well as Transport Canberra and City Services as well as Canberra Metro as well as the consortium partner CAF. The government will be responding to the Assembly with detailed information in response to its request on these issues.

MR PARTON: Minister, how can you be confident that there is no cracking in our LRVs if the necessary work to identify the issue has not been completed—a la the removal of the floor of one of the carriages?

MR STEEL: We will continue to undertake the necessary work led by the regulator and the consortium to look at these issues as appropriate. We treat rail safety very seriously, and I will be reporting back to the Assembly on the investigations that have been taking place, which have been very detailed in relation to this matter. But at this point no issues have been identified in relation to the Urbos 100 vehicles in Canberra.

MR CAIN: Minister, you have repeatedly said this will not be an issue in Canberra, because we have younger vehicles. That seems to beg a question: does this just seem you expect our LRVs to crack in a few years instead of now?

MR STEEL: I reject the premise of the question. I have not said that. What I have said is that to date no issues have been identified in relation to Canberra’s LRVs.

Mrs Jones: No, you said they’re younger. You said that last time.

MR STEEL: We do have a younger fleet. That is a fact. The New South Wales fleet came in in 2014-15. Ours were delivered for operation ahead of the start in April 2019. We do have a younger fleet of vehicles and there are differences in the fleet compared to the inner west light rail line. So all of those issues will be outlined before the end of the year in the government’s response to the Assembly’s resolution, earlier than what was proposed by Mr Parton.

Economy—employment

MR DAVIS: My question is to the Minister for Business and Better Regulation. The Canberra Business Chamber this week asked the ACT government to develop a long-term strategy for workforce capacity in the private sector. Could the minister update us on consultation with the Canberra Business Chamber and whether the government is considering the development of such a workforce strategy?

MR BARR: Madam Speaker, I will take this question, as it covers multiple portfolios, and coordination across the portfolios of both the minister for business and the Minister for Skills, as well as mine—that of the Treasurer, Chief Minister and Minister for Economic Development.

The Canberra Business Chamber’s call was in fact made in a document that they released in the lead-up to the 2020 territory election. It is about two paragraphs of


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