Page 2585 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 10 August 2016
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
MR RATTENBURY: They have abandoned the recognition that you, Madam Speaker, have put out there that Canberra needs to invest seriously in public transport. Recently we heard Mr Coe say on ABC radio that it is okay if they tear up the contracts because they will still have the plans for light rail and when Canberra needs it in 20 or 30 years time they will just pull them out of the bottom drawer. What an extraordinary position to take. We are going to spend several hundred million dollars tearing up a contract, discarding all the work that has been done, but somehow we actually reckon these diagrams will still be all right in 20 years time. We will just crank them out of the bottom drawer and start spending on light rail again because we will actually need it then.
We will have wasted the money and we will have condemned Canberra to having to wait that long for this public transport system that the Liberal Party know this city needs. That goes to the very dishonesty of the policy position that they are taking to this ACT election. They have spent the last couple of years deceiving the Canberra community about what this city really needs.
What we know is that if stage 1 does not go ahead there definitely will not be stage 2 to other parts of the city. Again we have seen Mr Coe run the line that says: “If light rail were going from my electorate of Belconnen to the city, that would be a better project. If it went through to the airport that would be a better project.”
Sure, we can have that debate; but what it again shows and underlines is the dishonesty of the position the Liberal Party are taking to the Canberra community. They know that we need this public transport investment, but they are prepared to take a short-term political strategy for their political gain and waste taxpayers’ money to do it.
Part of what we know is going on here is that they are also trying to create a magic pudding of budget spending. There has been a debate around this $400 million figure. But even the academic on radio yesterday morning pretty much acknowledged that the $400 million figure was right.
We know that the Liberal Party have got this sort of hashtag going, “because of light rail”, and on every problem in this city they are going to spend the light rail money time and time again. They are conveniently ignoring the fact that they are going to have to spend the money compensating and then they are re-spending the money time and time again. We have seen it again today with the latest proposal for the hospital.
What they are ignoring are the economic benefits that will be generated for Canberra out of light rail. We know that there are well-documented negatives that result from failing to respond to the challenges and problems that light rail helps to address and we know that, according to Infrastructure Australia, delays on major Canberra roads, of which the Northbourne corridor is right at the top of the list, are tipped to cost $700 million by 2031. These are all things that we know.
Then there are the things that we do not know. Will the Liberal Party actually deliver their bus plan? The government has indicated that there will be 1.2 million kilometres
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video