Page 3646 - Week 10 - Thursday, 19 September 2019

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MR STEEL: I will take that question on notice.

Light rail—stage 1 construction issues

MR PARTON: My question is to the Minister for Transport: are you aware of any construction issues with light rail stage 1, specifically issues surrounding stormwater or electrical infrastructure, that were not addressed prior to the project’s completion?

MR STEEL: I am aware that the construction work was signed off by the independent certifier. That should give confidence to the whole community that the construction was completed as expected by government.

MR PARTON: Minister, what is the ongoing cost to the Canberra ratepayer for the maintenance and repair of faulty stormwater or electrical infrastructure associated with light rail stage 1?

MR STEEL: As the member is aware, we provide availability payments on an ongoing basis year by year to Canberra Metro under the terms of our contract. We will continue to do that over the life of the contract.

MISS C BURCH: Minister, what will you do personally to ensure that future construction is of the highest building quality?

MR STEEL: I thank the member for her supplementary question. We have just published the lessons learned report for stage 1, where we look forward to making sure that in future extensions of the line we learn from the major infrastructure project that we have already undertaken and we transfer the skills and expertise into future stages of the network. That is why it is so critical that we start on stage 2A of this project as soon as we can so that we can make sure that the skills and expertise that have been built up, that corporate knowledge, continue in the next stage of the project, taking it down to Woden. Of course, it is yet to be seen whether the Liberals actually support that extension.

Schools—energy efficient infrastructure

MS CHEYNE: My question is to the Minister for Education and Early Childhood Development. Minister, can you please provide an update on the school boiler replacements that were announced in this year’s budget?

MS BERRY: I thank Ms Cheyne for the question. The ACT government is investing $15.9 million over four years across nine public schools for an energy efficient heating system renewal program. The schools included are Hawker College, Telopea Park School, Red Hill Primary School, Forrest Primary School, Fadden Primary School, Mount Stromlo High School, Alfred Deakin High School, Wanniassa Hills Primary School and Lyneham Primary School.

In four schools the government is replacing gas-fired boilers with electric heat pumps. In two schools the government is installing hybrid gas-electric systems, and in three


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