Page 1736 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 13 May 2015

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This means the red rapid service between Gungahlin and the city will be cancelled. The red rapid service is, as we all know, the best patronised bus service in the ACT. The ACT government’s proposal to spend between $80 million and $100 million a year in order to remove the best bus in the network is quite flabbergasting.

On the topic of buses, again I remind the government that their own report completed in 2012 argued in favour of a bus lane instead of light rail. As we all know, the report found that a bus lane produced double the benefit-cost ratio of light rail. The beauty of the bus lane is that after construction it would not require availability payments to be made to keep it operating. Maintenance works would pale in comparison with the availability payment, and the road would be used by the ACT government’s existing stock of ACTION buses. Why then are the government throwing away $80 million to $100 million per year on a project that their own report does not even support? Why is it that the government continue to spend so much money when they have their own report in 2012 suggesting there is a better alternative?

I know that the government are reluctant to release their estimated availability payment. I have moved similar motions before and, of course, have been stonewalled by this government. Such is the level of secrecy surrounding the project that earlier this year I submitted an FOI request to the Capital Metro Agency. I asked the agency to provide any information they had on the availability payment. The response I received was underwhelming. Of the 239 documents held by the agency in regard to the payment, three documents were fully released and seven documents were partially released; 230-odd were withheld.

The 230 documents comprise 10,675 pages. On receipt of the information under FOI, I was provided with 62 pages. There were 10,600 pages that were cited, and I was provided with 62. There were 10,600 pages withheld. And the government talk about transparency and open government! The government expect the opposition to support them in this project when they withhold 10,600 pages in an FOI request. This is the sort of thing that Mr Rattenbury has signed up to.

Somewhere in those 10,675 pages there must have been the government’s estimate for the availability payment. The ACT government must surely have a working estimate for the value of the availability payment. To commit to this project without that figure would simply be foolish.

I think it is important to let the minister know that the community is aware of what this liability is. The minister’s rhetoric that we do not pay for light rail until it has been built has fooled no-one. It is not an argument that he is going to win. Canberrans know that you do not get things for free. They understand that what the government is proposing is going to cost a huge amount of money, and it is going to be the taxpayers of Canberra that will be paying for it. Eventually the time comes when you have to pay. Unfortunately, under this project, we are going to be paying interest and profit as well.

The opposition is simply asking the government to tell us how much we will be paying. It will be interesting to see what Mr Rattenbury does with regard to this


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