'No reason we need to wait': ACT Greens demand faster start date for light rail stage 2B

The ACT Greens have demanded their coalition partners explain why light rail stage 2B can’t be started sooner.

The party has pledged to work on cutting down the additional nine-year wait for light rail to reach Woden.

Transport spokesperson Jo Clay said Canberrans were right to feel let down by ACT Labor.

“ACT Labor say they can’t deliver Light Rail to Woden before 2033, but the Greens won’t just sit back and accept that,” she said.

“The Greens envisage a light rail network, not just a shuttle line. If we want our kids to be able to use it throughout their life, we need continual construction.

“Let’s start building Commonwealth Park to Woden during the construction, testing and commissioning of Stage 2A. There’s no reason we need to wait until 2028 or later to start building Stage 2B.”

Ms Clay pointed to the Gold Coast light rail project as an example of delivering such a project faster and questioned why the ACT Government couldn’t also keep to a tighter schedule.

“We all face the same labour and supply challenges, and we are all operating in the same national infrastructure market,” she said.

Ms Clay accused ACT Labor of a “lack of priority” towards the project, pointing to a Riotact article where the Chief Minister said the Canberra Hospital expansion had to take the front seat for this term of government.

Given transport accounts for about 60 per cent of the ACT’s annual greenhouse gas emissions, she stressed giving more people access to light rail would help the environment.

“Canberrans love the high-quality, zero-emissions transport they’ve experienced over the past five years on light rail to Gungahlin,” Ms Clay said.

“We can’t and won’t wait to share the love of light rail with Canberra’s south.”

The Canberra Liberals have also cited the Gold Coast project as a reason why the project should be stopped completely.

Earlier this month, the Queensland government flagged that the fourth stage of its light rail project – a 13-kilometre stretch crossing two waterways to link Burleigh Heads to Coolangatta via the airport – could cost anywhere from $3.1 billion to $7.6 billion.

The preliminary business case for the Gold Coast Light Rail Stage 4 project gave a “strategic cost estimate” of $4.467 billion, with the wider cost range to allow for “unknown risks”.

Queensland Transport Minister Bart Mellish said the government would have to “consider the viability of projects where they have very large cost estimates versus benefit”.

ACT Shadow Transport Minister Mark Parton wondered if Canberra’s next light rail stage could also cost billions more than expected.

“Reading between the lines, Queensland Labor is very close to cutting its losses and pulling the pin on the next stage because, apparently, it does not stack up,” he said.

“The next stage of the Gold Coast tram project is 13 kilometres, so it is similar in distance to stage 2B of our tram.

“What is it going to cost, I wonder?”

In response, a spokesperson for Transport Minister Chris Steel’s office stated it was “disappointing” the ACT Greens had taken “such a confused position” on how major project environmental and planning approvals worked.

“Ms Clay knows that the current construction timeframe is a direct result of lengthy Commonwealth environmental, heritage and planning approvals processes,” they said.

“As members of the ACT Cabinet, Greens leadership is well aware of the complexities of delivering this next stage of light rail.

“The engineering challenges getting over Lake Burley Griffin and the significant approval processes required for the project need to be considered when making comparisons with other light rail projects nationally or globally.”

They also questioned why the ACT Greens appeared to be pushing for approvals to hurry up when their own 2024 election policy platform outlines goals to add more regulatory and environmental approvals processes and practices for infrastructure and development in the Territory.

“The Greens Party should be upfront on which environmental and planning approval process they think the light rail project should not be subject to,” the spokesperson said.

“Canberrans know that ACT Labor is the only party with a practical and proven track record on delivering major infrastructure projects for Canberrans.”