ACT's light rail plans at risk under Coalition, warns King

The extension of light rail to Woden would be at risk if the Coalition government returned to power at the coming election, Infrastructure Minister Catherine King has warned.

Speaking to reporters before a sod-turning ceremony to mark the start of work on light rail Stage 2A from the city to Commonwealth Park, Ms King said the Coalition’s agenda meant Commonwealth funding for projects such as the next leg of the network would be unlikely.

This is despite Transport Minister Chris Steel saying only moments earlier that the ACT could work with a Dutton government, given previous coalition governments had helped fund light rail.

But Ms King warned that planned Coalition spending cuts, its vision for a nuclear power industry and the promise to allow business lunches as a tax deduction meant something would have to give.

“When you’ve got to make $351 billion of cuts, where do you think that’s going to come from?” she said.

“When you’ve got to fund $600 billion for publicly owned nuclear reactors, where do you think that’s going to come from?

“And when you’ve got to find between $1.6 to $10 billion of foregone revenue for long lunches, where do you think that’s going to come from?

“It’s going come from infrastructure projects, it’s going come from health, it’s going to come from public servants here in Canberra.”

Ms King said that while she was not about to commit any more funding to Stage 2B until the approval and design process was complete and the Commonwealth knew how much it was actually going to cost, she made it clear federal Labor supported ACT light rail.

“We don’t put planning money in if we just think we’re going to do planning. We generally put planning money in because we know it is a project that is needed and that we’ll need construction money in the future, but decisions about when we put construction money in are subject to budget processes, and that’s exactly how it should be,” she said.

Mr Steel said the ACT has always been clear that construction of light rail needed Commonwealth support, and he hoped a Coalition government, if elected, would continue to see the benefits of light rail for the ACT and come to the party.

“We’ve seen on Stage One the benefits of light rail, and I’m sure that we’re going to see the significant benefits flow for Stage 2A, which will prove that we need to continue the work that we’re doing to expand the network overall and expand the benefits for the city,” he said.

Mr Steel, who is also Treasurer, said that despite the current budget troubles, the timeline for Stage 2B to begin construction in 2028 had not shifted and was as promised at last October’s election.

“We’re going to be undertaking a high level of design, and we’re working at the moment through the development of a draft environmental impact statement. We’ll have more to say about that soon, but the commitment that we made at the election has been clear,” he said.

Mr Steel ruled out any financial compensation for businesses in City West disrupted by the coming works but said the government had learned the lessons from Stage 1 and had engaged more deeply this time around to offer more support in other ways.

He said Infrastructure Canberra had deployed relationship officers to support businesses through the different construction phases.

“We’ll be working with the City Renewal Authority to make sure that these spaces are activated and that Canberrans know that the businesses are open and can be utilised,” he said.

“There’ll, of course, be differences as we move through the construction program, depending on what phase we’re in as to what the disruption will be at a particular point in time, so we’ll be engaging with them actively about those changes to make sure that they’re prepared and if they’ve got some issues that they want to raise with us, we’ll try and respond to those in a timely way,” he said.

Light rail stage 2A will be 1.7 km long and include three new stations. The ACT and the Commonwealth are jointly funding the $577 million project. Minister Andrew Barr said the project was more than just transport infrastructure; it was part of the vision to extend the CBD to the lake and precinct building.

The official start of Stage 2A coincided with land releases for housing and other projects, such as the Acton Waterfront Park and the rejuvenation of Commonwealth Park, including a new Canberra Aquatic Centre.

Mr Barr said the southern part of our CBD would be wholly transformed.

“All of this big infrastructure is important; it generates jobs, it generates new activity, and makes the Canberra that we love even better,” he said.