Page 3720 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 29 October 2014
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Light rail is a proven city-shaping tool. It changes the value of land and activity around it. Buses by themselves do not have the same city-shaping effect. Governments are now clearly aware of this phenomenon, and governments globally are changing approaches accordingly to ensure that land use and wider impacts are included in the appraisal of transport projects. The transport infrastructure and the urban form are clearly and inextricably linked.
Light rail is the right investment to provide better transport choices and drive the urban renewal of our city. In addition, the government proposes the project to be delivered and financed by the private sector, reducing the risk to the taxpayer and providing opportunities for outside investment in our city. This helps make light rail affordable for the community. We only start to pay for the system when we are already benefiting from the transport and land use improvements. It ensures that the cost of the project is spread across those generations who will benefit from those investments, rather than simply shouldering the current generation with all of the cost.
Those who oppose light rail have not presented any robust strategy or alternative for our city’s future. They do not provide a comprehensive alternative that meets the needs of our city well into its second century. We do not hear those opposite, or critics of this project elsewhere, suggesting that there is an alternative to this proposal. Instead, the reliance seems to be on the status quo: build more roads, invest in more road infrastructure, keep building suburbs the way we build them today, and everything will be all right. Well, no, it will not. We know what the costs are. They have been stated already—over $200 million, and growing, in the cost to our economy each and every year from congestion if we do not act to improve people’s transport choices.
That is why this government is making this investment. That is why this government is setting a clear plan for the future growth and development of our city. This government wants a vibrant, sustainable and prosperous Canberra. We need to achieve that vision with a strong investment in excellent public transport infrastructure that allows people to move easily around our city, that encourages growth and development along key transport corridors so that more people have the opportunity to access that public infrastructure. And fundamentally, we need investment in infrastructure that lays the foundation for a future city-wide network that connects all Canberrans.
MR GENTLEMAN (Brindabella—Minister for Planning, Minister for Community Services, Minister for Workplace Safety and Industrial Relations, Minister for Children and Young People and Minister for Ageing) (10.40): I thank Dr Bourke for drawing the Assembly’s attention to this important matter of policy for all members of the Canberra community.
Canberra is facing the challenges of the 21st century posed by population growth, climate change and energy use. To ensure our long-term environmental, social and economic security, we need to decide now what our priorities are and what we are prepared to trade off for a sustainable future. Government’s transport and planning must allow for the increased demand for transport that will come from increasing
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