1 October 2024

'Upfront and transparent': Lee defends costings and budget strategy

| Ian Bushnell
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ELizabeth Lee in a park

Opposition Leader Elizabeth Lee says infrastructure projects have been prioritised based on their economic, social and cultural benefits. Photo: Ian Bushnell.

Opposition Leader Elizabeth Lee has defended the cost of the Canberra Liberals’ policy and infrastructure commitments and approach to the budget in the face of Labor claims of “magic pudding” economics and back-of-the-envelope calculations.

Under questioning from reporters with early voting now only a week away, Ms Lee said her party had been upfront and transparent with Canberrans, attaching costs to every campaign commitment.

Ms Lee said the list of promises and costs would go to Treasury for assessment in due course, as was expected of every party.

She said the costings were based on information gathered over the years from budgets, as well as comparative programs and initiatives in different jurisdictions.

“We’ve been relying on a lot of data that’s already out there and have come to a very transparent and open process about how we’ve estimated our costs to be attached to various election commitments,” she said.

“And, of course, Treasury will do their own due diligence.”

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Ms Lee said infrastructure projects such as the convention centre ($760 million) and stadium ($800 million) didn’t have to be fully funded by the ACT but could be paid for through a variety of approaches, including public-private partnerships, Commonwealth contributions and offsets through land sales.

The Canberra Liberals had also been clear about projects that they would not be proceeding with, such as Labor’s entertainment pavilion worth about $250 million and light rail Stage 2B, which remains uncosted by Labor but which the Liberals say will run into the billions of dollars.

They say this would free up room in the budget.

“The ACT Labor Greens parties have confirmed that they would like to start construction [of stage2B] in 2028, so you’ve got money allocated for that in the budget in the forward estimates.”

Ms Lee, who has committed to budget repair, refuted the notion that revenue would take a hit under a Liberal government due to its 2.2 per cent rates cap to provide some relief to “gouged” ratepayers, and potential cuts to taxes and charges, such as the Lease Variation Charge and payroll tax.

She said the projected amount from land sales through the land release and housing policy was a very conservative $900 million, “and that doesn’t include the additional revenue from ongoing rates and other charges as well.”

But it’s a figure Chief Minister Andrew Barr described as “magic pudding”.

render of light rail going over the lake

$90 million has been provisioned in the Budget for Light rail Stage 2B but half of that is Commonwealth money. Image: ACT Government.

Ms Lee said her government would also tackle wasteful spending, without listing specific areas, but citing the $78 million written off in the HR digital procurement and millions spent on the CIT contracts affair and investigation.

“Those are examples that are endemic for this Labor Greens Government,” she said.

“And obviously, as any new government will do, especially one that is coming in after a very long-term current government that has a tendency to waste government money, we will be looking at this very, very, very closely.”

Ms Lee also said the party would prioritise infrastructure projects that would bring the most economic, social and cultural benefits.

She said comparable projects in other cities had been moneyspinners for their communities.

According to one study, the Adelaide Convention Centre had brought in about $200 million in economic benefits in one year, while for the stadium in Parramatta, it was estimated each event generated about a million dollars for the city, Ms Lee said.

However, Labor has prioritised the proposed 2000-seat Lyric Theatre in the city because it believes it has the stronger business case.

“We’ll have more to say on the theatre,” is all Ms Lee would say.

The Liberals have committed to the Northside Hospital, which will cost at least $1 billion.

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Labor says the Pre Election Budget Update (PEBU) shows that $40 million has been provisioned over three years from 2025-26 for the delivery of Light Rail Stage 2B – this includes matched Commonwealth Government funding that was secured in December 2023.

A further $50 million provision is included in the Budget in 2028-29 including a $25 million matched contribution by the Commonwealth.

Labor says light rail Stage 2B, due to be built from 2028 to 2033, will be funded through a combination of ACT Government and Commonwealth Government contributions.

“Once the route is finalised and detailed design has been completed, further negotiations will occur with the Commonwealth Government to jointly fund this transport infrastructure project,” a spokesperson said.

Funding for both the theatre and Northside Hospital have also been provisioned in the budget.

The provision for the Northside Hospital is allocated for estimated construction costs of over $1 billion from 2025 to 2026. The provision for the theatre, currently subject to a two-stage procurement process, is allocated for estimated construction costs from 2025-26.

“Both of these provisions have not been separately identified by the Under Treasurer in the PEBU as they are commercial in confidence – however they are included in the total Budget projections,” the spokesperson said.

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If only Ian Bushnell could ask the tough questions of the $630 million dollar deficit Mr Barr is running this year or question the $3 billion he’s adding to ACT Net Debt over the next term. And that pre Election Budget transparency figure from Treasury, didn’t even include his new expenditure promises over the last fortnight.

Canberrans really are starved for quality media analysis and reporting. It’s sad when the best insights come from a former Chief Minister of the same government in power.

This is the party that pretends it cares for those suffering mental illness. A party that gave us the illegal Robodebt debt recovery scheme which ran for four years and caused immense grief and loss of life. A debt recovery program which was supported by the Canberra Liberals. A program that was defended to the last and ended with a new government, a Royal Commission and a $1.8 billion taxpayer funded settlement to the many hundreds of thousands of victims!

It is also the same party that has fought tooth and nail against reforms introduced in this assembly including mental health and disability services, gambling reforms, drug laws, LGBTQIA+ rights, safe schools, women’s health and reproductive choices, end-of-life decisions, indigenous rights, law and order, and the list goes on!

Hypocrites!

@Jack D.
While I don’t have any interest in defending the ACT Liberals, your Labor campaigning is getting even more pathetic as the election draws nigh – especially, when you raise the federal coalition government Robodebt scheme, as an argument against the local party.

Is this really the best strategy that the cabal, on the first floor of City Plaza Apartments, can produce?

No interest in defending the ACT Liberals JustSaying?

You could have fooled me!

The way things are panning out in the train wreck that is the Canberra Liberals, I don’t have to do a bloody thing!

Roll on election!

Jack D.
You seem to be doing a helluva lot of fooling yourself.

You and the other cabal members need to drop the Liberal mudslinging strategy – they are not your threat.

The winds of change are definitely blowing in Canberra, but I don’t think the wind is blowing to the right.

You need to dredge up far more mud on the independents if you have any chance of rescuing Barr.

Justsaying,
Good points.

After reading the candidate statements from my electorate, the cupboard rarely is bare and we need wholesale change.

The major party offerings are woeful.

And even though I don’t really agree with most of the smaller parties and independents either, they are looking more and more a real alternative.

@chewy14
Yes, unfortunately we have reached the stage where it’s the “best of a bad bunch”.

For too long now, ACT voters have elected Labor and Labor/Green governments because the alternative was too unpalatable.

Like you I don’t agree with everything the non-majors are offering, but on this occasion the alternative is not so unpalatable.

It’s definitely going to be interesting times after 6:00 pm on 19th October.

I don’t know about other voters but I am certainly not worried about the Independents although they are slightly better organised this time around than in past elections. Despite the hype which we always see from the media, I think they will go the same way as their predecessors!

The Independents for Canberra are a mixed bag and vastly divided in their opinions on how they will govern should they win control, supposedly a party but not a party. With a leader but not a leader, they are the Clayton mix of ACT politics, the party you have when you don’t have a party!

Like all Independents before them, and we have seen plenty, they are anti-government, anti-tram and anti-everything else, vague in what they have to offer and dither on who they will support should the party win control. They are no David Pocock although they want voters to think they are!

ACT voters are savvy and calculated in their voting intentions. I am sure the Independents will appeal to some voters but are really a trojan horse for the Liberals and only chance for them to get into government!

Jack,
The weak attempts from ALP HQ to paint the Independents as trojan horses for the Liberals is laughable when you see what the majority of their actual stated positions are, which are mostly left leaning and progressive.

It’s an obvious ploy from the ALP but one which your savvy ACT voters can see right through as the current government goes ever more negative and into the gutter through this campaign.

@Jack D.
Perhaps you and the rest of the City Plaza Apartments cabal have your finger on the electoral pulse and are reading it correctly – that independents, such as IFC, Strong Party, Belco Party et al, are a blip on the radar.

Nevertheless, I agree with you on one point, ACT voters are savvy, and, because of that, the compounding unaccountability of successive Labor/Greens coalition governments has progressively worn thin on the voters.

While (again I agree with you) they are not David Pocock, they do offer a viable option for an essentially progressive electorate, tired of the SNAFUs from a government which has long lost its appeal but was considered better than the alternative. What they offer, as did (and does) Pocock, is an opportunity to be represented by politicians who will actually consider the merits of legislation and not simply adopt the lemming-like party line – i.e. hold the government to account.

If nothing else, 19 October 2024 will be very interesting and I restate my belief that preferences (beyond the 5 box donkey vote) will be critical.

HiddenDragon7:55 pm 02 Oct 24

The Pre-Election Budget Updates in the period since Bunyip Bluegum Barr has been Treasurer tell an interesting tale (even if not quite as cheerful as Norman Lindsay might have told).

The 2012-13 Update reported Net Financial Liabilities of $3.8bn, which had grown to $5.2bn in 2016, $9.8bn in 2020 and $14.3bn at present – with more than $17bn looking very likely by 2028.

The deployment of the Magic Pudding rhetoric against his opponents by a Chief Minister and Treasurer who has presided over a growth of more than $10bn in public liabilities (in a town which only has a few hundred thousand taxpayers to carry that debt) does bring to mind the old saying about “more hide than Jessie the elephant”.

So that’s the FIRST time I’ve ever seen a rendering of how they think they will get across the lake…. Another bridge!

Any fool that can’t budget and programme that now doesn’t deserve to be in government!

Many of the Liberal policies are abhorrent, but at least they talk to the public and listen to them, unlike Andrew Barr who repeatedly avoids real people.

Agree about Barr not talking to people, but “many” of the Libs policies are abhorrent? Like what? Trying to fix the health system that last time they were in government was near the best in the country and now has been ranked last by the AMA for years? Fully funding education reforms that should have been in place years ago so as to improve the education of Canberra’s kids? Investing in the bus system again so people can get where they’re going faster? Building a stadium instead of talking about it for 15 years? Replacing the out of date convention centre? Providing cost of living support? Capping rates increases to take pressure off households in the longer term? Getting maintenance of the suburbs back on track? I can’t think of any policies they’ve released that justify your choice of word.

I want the city stadium as much as the next guy but when asked about the costings she just brushed it away.

None of these promises will be kept because even if they do win Lee’s Liberal party is a bunch of far-right culture warriors. It will be a one-term circus.

Maybe she is using your mates in Labors tactic of refusing to answer, dodging questions, and primising things you’ll never deliver. Seems to work and keeps dopes voting for them.

@Seano she literally said it is going to cost between $700-$800 million. It can be found on multiple news stories

Nothing in what I said was a support for Labor. But this highlights the exact problem, the Liberal Party fan bois can’t stand any criticism of Lee because they know it’s a scam.

Lee is just the “moderate” face of the same old far-right party that Canberrans keep rejecting…and Lee’s not even that moderate when you look at her voting record

That’s the point, Lee was asked to explain how she came to that number and how it would be funded and she completely brushed it.

It’s not a policy it’s a talking point.

The stadium won’t happen under the Liberals, even if they can get past the culture wars garbage that consumes so much of their attention.

Seano,
she said the estimate has been derived from similar builds in Australia and that funding will be looked at for private-public partnerships and federal funding options.

What exactly do you expect from an opposition party that isn’t in power and has no ability to resource or make agreements? It’s beyond ridiculous to expect them to have the detail now.

What you should be worried about is the current government who actually has the power and the resources making even more vague statements on infrastructure projects and has been completely avoiding the topic of funding and budgets for projects like light rail.

You can’t possibly raise this as an issue for the Libs whilst not recognising that it’s a far bigger problem for ALP and the Greens.

Of course he can, chewy. He is another “Jack D” level social media stooge for ACT Labor. 🤣

Lol…so vague it’s laughable. It’s a talking point, not a serious policy.

Calling people who disagree with you stooges is not at all cretinous and will definitely convince moderate Canberran voters that the Liberals and their supporters are not a bunch of extremists who should never be in power. *golf clap*

I’m not trying to convince people to vote any way. I’m merely pointing out that you should pop your head over the cubicle wall and work out between yourself and “Jack D” how to be less obvious paid shills.

Seano,
So exactly the same as the government who have whole departments to put together these types of proposals yet similarly have provided very little detail and costing on their plans for years for numerous projects, just hoping that people don’t look beyond the headline.

Oppositions don’t have the ability or the resources to put together detailed plans literally because they are in opposition. To deride them for being vague is meaningless because otherwise government’s would never change due to the benefits of incumbency.

Yet you want to call the Liberals out whilst giving the government a free ride on the same issue?

Yeah, there’s definitely some biased extremists out there, you sound like one of them if you can’t see how silly the position you’re putting forward is.

Besides this being all nonsense, nothing I said was a defence of Labor.

I’m merely pointing out that the alternative is unfit for government both in that their policy platform is a lot of empty populism and that Lee is a front for the same extremists with the same extremist positions that Canberrans keep rejecting.

You can pretend that I’m an extremist for pointing this out if helps you feel better Chewy but it was the Canberra Liberals who voted against VAD, voted against banning gay conversion theory, who want to limit access to pregnancy health care for women. It’s the Canberra Liberals who keep having to apologise for bigoted Facebook comments etc and don’t want people looking at their history of climate change denialism.

These are the facts, they’re on the public record.

Seano,
And yet you’ve now posted multiple times on multiple threads around how bad the Liberals are, yet haven’t once used those comments to apply the same lens to the current government.

Hmm, wonder why.

You’ve then gone off here on a weird tangent about historic voting on social issues which has absolutely nothing to do with the orginal discussion.

You claim it isn’t a defence of Labor but ignore their more significant failings on the exact same issues to only focus on an opposition who hasn’t been in power for over 20 years.

You can pretend your bias isn’t completely obvious if it makes you feel better but objective you clearly are not.

It’s funny watching the obvious paid shills almost copy and paste each others talking points. 🤣

Chewy, champion, just because I’m pointing out that Liberals are an unelectable rabble…based on the demonstrable facts doesn’t make me a fan of Labor.

But I know for some it’s just about cheering the team they support not about policy or principle.

Yes, the only reason the Canberra Liberals have been out of office for 26 years is paid shills… genius-level thinking.

“But I know for some it’s just about cheering the team they support not about policy or principles”

I fully agree Chief, which is why if your point was actually about either policy or principles you would have acknowledged the current government’s woeful performance in the exact same area you are complaining about the Libs.

Yet once again, you have only focused on one party……

No I wouldn’t because a) your biased, hyberbolic cheerleading nonsense is way overblown and b) there’s a difference between a government that can do better and an opposition that is not fit to govern at all…thanks for playing champ.

Except nowhere have I remotely promoted any party, in fact I repeatedly have pointed out the huge failings of the Liberals and in this very thread above highlighted how bad the offerings from the majors are.

Your clearly biased government rhetoric is obvious when the best you can muster is that the “government could do better”.

See ya later Pal.

Lol sure champion, your constant painting of Canberra as a smoking ruin whilst defending the Liberal’s nonsensical policy platform and voting on social issues that would appal most reasonable Canberrans isn’t promoting the Liberal party….uh-huh.

Lol, yeah sure Buddy, your continued whinging around the Liberals whilst excusing clear failures of governance and failed delivery of the current government in the same area isn’t shilling for the ALP.

You originally raised the Liberals proposal for a city stadium as vague, un-costed and that they won’t deliver.

Well, without going to an exhaustive list, let’s look at the current government’s performance in the same spatial area over the last 10 or so years.

They have run 7 feasibility studies as government for a new/upgraded stadium and had themselves gone to multiple previous elections with a stadium on the Civic pool site as part of their platform.

They’ve just recently decided it’s all too hard and want to change sites, nothing delivered.

They also mooted lowering Parkes Way and connecting the city to the lake, which was once again later dropped due to apparent costs. The waterfront development area has had minor works completed over 10 years later despite highly promoting it. Amazing.

Light Rail is a key part of their platform and they are currently spending millions of dollars of taxpayer funds on design work without releasing any cost estimates or economic assessments on the merits of the project.

The Civic pool itself was meant to be relocated and upgraded, the proposal now having moved to multiple different sites, nothing delivered.

The proposed convention centre, moved to multiple different sites, nothing delivered.

All of this being promoted during election campaigns whilst having the benefits of being able to use our funds to develop their policy ideas and proposals, something that no opposition party has.

But your main concern is that the Liberals can’t deliver, when they haven’t been in government for over 20 years.

“can do better”

Bahahahaha, nice work Mate.

Lol I knew you weren’t done with posting nonsense and I haven’t excused anything so now you’re lying about that as well.

You can try to make the argument about other things but the facts are the Liberals have a policy platform of big promises with absolutely no details. The same con they try to pull every election.

The Liberals’ voting record and their constant having to apologise for bigotry shows exactly who they are, a party of far-right extremists who are unfit for government.

The Liberals can’t deliver because their platform is nonsense and if they get in they will be like every other far right-wing government that briefly gets into power in this country, a one-term circus.

@Seano
chewy14 has actually made some very relevant points to counter your tunnel vision.

You suggest “the Liberals have a policy platform of big promises with absolutely no details”, as if they are the only party that doesn’t deliver on election promises. Many contributors on here have referenced a number of promises made by Labor at previous elections that are still to be delivered – particularly those contributors from Tuggeranong.

This is an election campaign so grandiose promises are made without thought as to their actual delivery. As (arguably) the master of political gamesmanship, John Winston Howard, taught us, there are core and non-core promises – unfortunately, the current electoral legisation does not require those who make the promises to differentiate between the two, before the election.

I’m not remotely convinced by Chewy’s painting of Canberra as a smoking ruin while cheerleading for the Libs.

It’s a fact that the Liberal policy form is an uncosted pile of detail-free promises.

And my criticism of the Liberals’ stadium policy stands. It’s appalling that all we have from Lee for a civic stadium policy a position she announced two years ago is a number she can’t justify and an artist’s impression of what this fantasy stadium would look like.

I remain entirely unconvinced by a promise of more of everything for less policy platform as I always am no matter who tries this cheap political con. The Liberals tantruming that it’s their turn isn’t good enough.

But it doesn’t matter anyway because the Canberra Liberals have once again made themselves unelectable in my opinion. Instead of booting the bigots and extremists out they’ve just tried to hide them being Lee pretending to be a moderate, which judging from her voting record, she clearly isn’t.

Is a reason for ACT Labor and Greens not undertaking and releasing a cost estimate for Light Rail Stage 2B to Woden be because it would lock in billions of dollars against their own election promises, but at the same time as it would free up billions of dollars for the opposition or Independent parties.

It’s a bit inconsistent for reporters to question the opposition about the costs for their 2024 election promises, but ignore the future budget cost to the ACT government who made the Light Rail to Woden funding promise and commitment back before the 2016 election.

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