Half of Canberrans support next stage of light rail according to union poll

Remember when the ACT Government was paying Piazza Research to do Light Rail Surveys and they were getting positive results.

Then the Canberra Times revealed that the ACT Government was re-wording the questions to help garner a positive result. This regular bi-annual survey from Piazza suddenly stopped cold after the revealing news.

Now we get an ACT Unions based survey that’s not fully releasing the methodology and questions to an academic standard. Take the results with a grain of salt fellow Canberrans.

Why can’t we have a proper and accurate survey on Light Rail expenditure instead of Liberal Party negative focused web surveys or Labor/Greens/Unions push polling pro light rail surveys.

I am really looking forward to the light rail trip between Civic and Woden. Defined route, dedicated right of way, smooth travel that derives its energy from sustainable power sources and a capital cost incurred by the government sector. I am sure Mr Barr will find some additional revenue generating assets along the route and may even find a way to collect a few dollars from the feds for running it through the parly triangle.
I do worry that he will be creating two classes of canberrans though: those with access to the extended hours of the tram versus those who only have access to the TWU controlled ACTION buses, with their early knock of times. For example, the Easter Saturday debacle for anyone choosing to use buses to get to the folk festival.

On the subject of polls, I received a call on my fixed home line this evening from a computer with a female recorded voice asking “if an election was held in the ACT today, who would you vote for?” and it listed the appropriate key functions for Labor, Canberra Liberals etc.

Could it be that Barr is planning a snap election before the full cost details of the tram experiment and other funding problems are released?
It would be a great time for an election with the Liberals being so pathetic. Labor would see it as a great opportunity to get a majority without the Greens to (sometimes) rely on.

Go for it Mr Barr.

Depends how the question was framed. If you asked a simple “Do you support..” Yes/No question then most people will support it. However if you said “Would you support a light rail extension if the ACT was to incur an additional $1b in debt to be funded by rates and levies increases” you’d find the answer would be somewhat different.

I wonder how many of the people currently outraged by the ACT Government’s efforts to generate increased rates revenue from apartment, townhouse etc. owners are also in favour of stage two (and beyond) of the network?

When the value capture taxing kicks in for those owning properties anywhere moderately proximate to the lines, things will get very interesting (lots more outrage in the local media), but it will be far too late by then.

Like Infrastructure Australia (the independent umpire) I agree that Light Rail is not suitable for Canberra. The journey time from Civic to Woden will either double or triple depending on which route is chosen. Our city will be further neglected by the cost of the project or rates will become astronomic. Let us wait and see what happens to patronage between Gungahlin and Civic when they lose their express buses, journey times double and most passengers have to stand.