Page 4252 - Week 14 - Wednesday, 27 November 2013
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Mr Hanson and the Liberal Party continue to reject this project on the basis of their analysis of what happens now in the corridor. But this project is not just about now. This project is about the future. It is about tens of thousands more people living along this corridor under business as usual. It is about tens of thousands more people working in this corridor under business as usual, and whether or not buses are going to cut it. The government says they are not. They do not deliver us the carrying capacity, they do not deliver us the reliability, they do not deliver us the value uplift that can occur through a well-delivered light rail project along that corridor.
Mr Hanson rightly points out that I have been an advocate in this place in the past for bus rapid transit. But I will tell you why I have changed my mind, Madam Speaker. Bus rapid transit does not deliver the value uplift that light rail transit can. Bus rapid transit does not deliver the paradigm shift in the way people perceive public transport.
Mr Hanson interjecting—
MADAM SPEAKER: Order, Mr Hanson!
MR CORBELL: And if you are going to deliver and invest in large-scale public transport infrastructure, you also need people to support it.
I have stood in this place and advocated for BRT and those on that side of the chamber have opposed it. So do not give me all of this pious, sanctimonious lecturing from those opposite about why bus rapid transit is such a good thing. When this government proposed bus rapid transit they were opposed to that as well. So their record is clear for all to see.
Light rail transit delivers the support in the community to make the investment, it delivers better value capture, it delivers better quality of ride, it delivers better public transport services and it delivers better public transport carrying capacity.
Mr Hanson interjecting—
MR CORBELL: These are all good reasons to invest in LRT. And the business case is not negative; it is a net positive. The BCR, the benefit-cost ratio, for light rail is a positive one. Anything over two is considered a beneficial project in terms of return to the economy. So we have to decide—
Mr Rattenbury: A point of order, Madam Speaker.
MADAM SPEAKER: On the point of order.
Mr Rattenbury: I do note that Mr Hanson was predominantly heard in silence but he has chirped away throughout the duration of Minister Corbell’s speech and I—
MADAM SPEAKER: Chirped, did you say?
Mr Rattenbury: The only way to describe it is incessant chirping and I think it is quite unparliamentary.
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