Opposition Leader Elizabeth Lee says the bill for the ACT Government’s infrastructure plan will be at least $8 billion. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
Opposition Leader Elizabeth Lee has thrown down the infrastructure gauntlet to Chief Minister Andrew Barr, calling on him to come clean with voters about how much the long list of projects will cost.
Ms Lee said the size of the government’s infrastructure plan in the context of a deteriorating fiscal position revealed in the mid-year Budget Review was alarming.
“With the Territory’s debt to exceed $18 billion in the forward estimates and interest repayments alone to cost Canberrans almost $2 million a day, Canberrans should be asking Andrew Barr how he’s going to pay for all these projects,” she said.
Ms Lee said that despite announcing a number of significant projects to be taken to the election in October, Mr Barr had not told Canberrans how much they would cost and how they would be budgeted and delivered.
With next to no money in the budget for projects such as the construction of light rail stage 2B to Woden, the Canberra Theatre redevelopment, the Northside Hospital, a new stadium, and the convention centre and the music pavilion, Ms Lee estimated that Mr Barr would need to find at least $8 billion to deliver these projects.
Ms Lee said the Canberra Liberals would propose their own infrastructure plan after the June budget was handed down.
“We’ll be upfront with the Canberra public about those costings going through the robust Treasury process as any Opposition should,” she said.
“It will focus on providing the most benefit to Canberrans financially, socially and culturally.”
But light rail to Woden will not be on the Liberals’ list, having already pledged to discontinue plans to extend the network beyond Commonwealth Park.
Ms Lee said the biggest worry was that Canberrans would not be told before the election how much light rail between Commonwealth Park and Woden would cost, which the Canberra Liberals now expected to be $4 billion, or $1 billion more than previously estimated.
“Andrew Barr knows the cost of Stage 2B of the tram will be astronomical and that is why he will not publicly state how much it will cost because the result will be further increases in rates and government charges for Canberrans,” she said.
The government says it cannot say how much Stage 2B will cost until the design work and business case are finalised, and even then, it cannot preempt contract negotiations.
However, Ms Lee said the government was selective about which projects it would speculate on.
“The argument of ‘commercial in confidence’ does not stack up when he is more than happy to spruik to Canberrans that a new Northside Hospital will cost $1 billion before any contracts have been signed.
“Why is it OK to reveal how much some infrastructure projects will cost but not the tram?”
Light rail on Adelaide Avenue. The Liberals will scrap what they say is a $4 billion project the ACT cannot afford. Image: ACT Government.
Ms Lee also said the government did not have a good record of delivering projects on time.
“We know this government is very good at making announcements with much fanfare and then re-announcing and rescoping projects, but where they fail time and time again is at delivery, as highlighted by the significantly delayed Canberra Hospital Expansion and Stage 2A of the tram,” she said.
Ms Lee said Mr Barr should be upfront with Canberrans about how much these promised projects would cost and when they would be completed before they go to the polls.
“Canberrans should and have every right to demand more transparency and more respect when it comes to where their money is being spent,” she said.
Mr Barr has said the Territory could not afford to delay building once-in-50 or 100 years infrastructure over the coming decade.
But he said the government would seek to offset the cost through 50:50 Commonwealth funding partnerships and complementary asset sales, such as land for new housing.
He said a number of projects would not be able to proceed without Commonwealth support, presumably light rail and the stadium, which is expected to cost more than $500 million.
“They can’t all be built in one parliamentary term or year, but clearly, they will need to be over the next 10 years,” Mr Barr told Region ahead of the Budget Review.
He said most voters wanted to know the pipeline and that the government had a plan.
“People will be in no doubt about what we have done and what we intend to do and how it fits in with a longer-term plan.”
The new Canberra Hospital building is due to open in the third quarter of 2024, while the new Woden CIT is expected to be completed by 2025.
Mr Barr has repeatedly said that the Canberra Theatre development, which is in its design phase, would take priority over the stadium, convention centre and music pavilion.
Planning work is continuing on the Northside Hospital.
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