Press conference, Canberra

ANDREW BARR: … Federal Infrastructure Minister Catherine King, federal colleagues Alicia Payne, David Smith, and ACT Treasurer and Transport and Planning Minister Chris Steel for the official kick-off of Light Rail Stage 2A construction. The extension of the light rail network south, initially from here to Commonwealth Park and then onwards through the National Triangle to Woden, is a priority project for the Territory and we are delighted to have a funding partner and a supportive national government that recognises the benefits of this sort of public transport investment. I want to take the opportunity this morning to particularly thank Minister King and her team for their very strong and close engagement with the Territory Government through the various stages of planning for this project and now into the construction phase.

As we begin the construction work, we will see the completion of the Raising London Circuit project on the eastern side of Sydney Hill, together with a number of land releases and new projects that are coming to this precinct, including behind us here at the Acton Waterfront Park. Just across the road, we’ll be home to the new Canberra Aquatic Centre as part of the rejuvenation of Commonwealth Park.

Together with the other land releases the ACT Government has either already concluded or will be bringing forward, it will see a complete transformation of the southern part of our CBD. This area has been famous, perhaps for its population of rabbits rather than its use by people. That is all going to change over the next couple of years, as part of a long term vision to invest in better public transport for Canberra, and to continue to build our city CBD and bring that CBD closer to Lake Burley Griffin. These are all concepts that you would all be familiar with. The City to the Lake vision has been progressively implemented over the last decade, and the Acton Waterfront vision goes back to the mid-2000s. All of this big infrastructure is important. It generates jobs, it generates new activity and makes the Canberra that we love even better.

And with that, I’m delighted to hand to Minister King to speak on the Commonwealth’s behalf.

CATHERINE KING: Thank you so much, Chief Minister. And it’s great to be joined here by my parliamentary colleagues, Alicia and David, and of course, Chris Steel, who I’ve had lots to do with over the course of the last few years as we’re building the infrastructure for the future of the ACT right here.

Stage 2A. Well, this is the kick-off. You’re about to see lots of construction activity in this part as we make the next part of Stage 2 of the light rail a reality in the sod turning that we’re doing today. As the Chief Minister has said, this isn’t just a project about public transport. It’s actually about housing. It’s about activating precincts where we want more people to come, to be able to enjoy the beauty of living here in this part of the fantastic country we all have. And really, what this project is doing is bringing in another 1.7 kilometres of the rail. It’s bringing three new stops. But again, what it is doing is activating precincts, opening up new areas for housing, new areas for recreation, and also culture, arts and sports. All of those things mean that really what you are seeing is a change in the way the city is actually being utilised and being oriented, and that creates jobs, about 1,000 on this project alone, but also creates further economic activity, as you start to see more and more people come into this area.

I want to commend again the ACT Government. This is how we like to do projects. I know everyone wants to see things and sods turned and things done immediately. But really what this has been-this project is a really good example of how you do large-scale infrastructure, making sure you’ve got the planning work done, the detailed design work, the services moved, the massive job that’s been actually changing London Circuit. That has been a really significant project. And then getting the construction money started and the construction started. And that’s what we’ve done with the first stage. It’s what we’ve done with 2A, and it’s what we’re doing with 2B as we’ve both got planning money now, looking at the detailed designs for 2B, and doing that work systematically, making sure we’ve got the capability of the workforce, but also that that design work is done and the money is locked in before we start making announcements about the project.

I’m going to hand over to Chris for a little while, and then we’ll be happy to take questions.

CHRIS STEEL: Thank you, Minister King. This is an important milestone for the light rail and the extension of our existing light-rail network in Canberra. We’ll start to see significant work happening on the western side of London Circuit, from Alinga Street right through to Edinburgh Avenue, and where the current Raising London Circuit project has been occurring. Raising London Circuit has provided a platform for light rail to move from the western side of London Circuit onto Commonwealth Avenue, so that we can get light rail on its way to Woden. We’ll see utilities, relocations and utilities removals starting in this first period of construction. And then later on this year we’ll see the first light-rail line being constructed with the tracks being laid.

Next year is a very exciting time for the project as well, where we’ll see the first bridge constructed as part of the Stage 2 extension of the light rail, with girders being lifted in to establish a bridge in between the two existing bridges over Parkes Way, with the help of one of Australia’s largest cranes. So this is going to be a very significant project in its own right. But importantly, Stage 2A is critical for enabling us to extend the light rail network down to Woden in the future as well. So, it’s great to see the work getting underway. We’ve always said with such a major project of this scale that there would be disruption, and this is going to create some challenges in the city. We’ve already seen some of the lane closures and road closures that will be in place for a period of around three years during the construction of the line. But this is going to provide major benefits for our city in the long run. It’s going to improve public spaces, improve pedestrian access, and, of course, provide a world class public transport system that will make our CBD more vibrant and connect other regions of Canberra.

Happy to take any questions together with my colleagues.

JOURNALIST: Businesses in City West – planning any sort of conversation at all for the disruption they’re suffering?

CHRIS STEEL: There’s no doubt that businesses that are located on the western side of London Circuit and the Melbourne building, those parts of the western side of the CBD will be impacted by the light rail construction. We’ve been engaging with those businesses for around five years, and that has included a lot of face to face engagement, door knocking to make them aware about the future plans. And as we’ve worked through and signed a contract with Canberra Metro and work through the construction methodology, been updating them on a regular basis about when construction was going to occur and at what stages they’ll see those impacts. We’ll continue to engage with them very closely through Infrastructure Canberra and Canberra Metro throughout the years of construction ahead, which is really important and is part of a business partnership plan that we have that we would engage and communicate really well with those businesses. And that is, of course, based on some of the experience that we had on the first stage of light rail, where we engaged with businesses. We’ve learned a lot from that, and we’re going to be engaging really in a timely way to make sure that they’ve got the information that they need.

Now, because we have been engaging with them so early, they have had time to prepare for this period of construction and disruption in the city. It is going to still be a difficult time, but we’ve seen many of those businesses pivot their business models already to adapt to this period of construction, which is great to see. We’ve been clear about what extra support we will provide, which is non-financial support. 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. There’ll of course be differences, you know, 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. We have relationship officers that are employed by Infrastructure Canberra to engage directly with the businesses, to support them and respond to their requests.

JOURNALIST: Minister Steel, there’s a federal election coming. Has the ACT Government done any work to consider what the impact of a change of Commonwealth Government would mean on further stages of light rail? Are you confident you could work with the Coalition to deliver 2B?

CHRIS STEEL: Well, we’re certainly – we’ve got funding locked in with the Commonwealth, so unless it was cut by an incoming government, we’ve got funding there for Stage 2B in terms of the planning and design work that’s getting underway. We’ll have some more to say about the next milestone for that project soon, but it’s progressing well. We’ve of course already got funding locked in joint partnership for Stage 2A of light rail – that was first announced under a previous government, so we’d hope that that would also continue. So we’ve got significant funding there. We need to get on with the projects. We’re in the construction phase now, which is exciting, and I think we’ve seen on Stage 1 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.

JOURNALIST: Timeline for 2B – ACT has got big budget problems. Will that affect the timeline for 2B?

CHRIS STEEL: Well, we’ve set out a timeline for Stage 2B, and the critical first part of that is moving through the planning and design of the project. 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. We want to move through those approvals, which is what you do with infrastructure projects. And then we’ll also consider a business case in this term. So that will mean that we’ll be considering how the project is implemented and what the financing options are. But we’ve always been clear that Commonwealth contribution is going to be critical to delivering the project.

JOURNALIST: Minister Steel, do you think – obviously there’s other projects that are going on in the city, including Thoroughbred Park and Ainslie Football Club. Is it frustrating to have that opposition sort of keep on coming from public?

CHRIS STEEL: Oh, look, there’s opportunities when we have major plan amendments to the Territory Plan for the community to have their say on those, and that will occur on those major plan amendments. So once they’ve been accepted by the planning authority following a period of consultation, they also have to go through the Legislative Assembly for a committee inquiry, which will provide an opportunity, quite rightly, for the community to have their say on those proposals. So those are in train at the moment and there’ll be further consultation.

JOURNALIST: Do you think the Canberra community have a not-in-their-backyard problem and their [indistinct]?

CHRIS STEEL: No, I think there’s an opportunity when there are major plan amendments that need to be made, it’s important that the community is able to have their say on those changes. The city’s growing, there is a need for more housing, but it needs to be done the right way. It needs to be well designed, and each project needs to be assessed on its merits by the Territory Planning Authority, and the community needs to have their say on that before it then gets assessed by the Legislative Assembly. There may be further recommendations about what other improvements can be made out of that process before it comes to government for decision.

JOURNALIST: And do you have an update with the Kingston shops heritage process?

CHRIS STEEL: No, you’d have to ask the Independent Heritage Council about that.

JOURNALIST: Questions for Minister King?

CATHERINE KING: Yes, sure.

JOURNALIST: We’ve heard the ACT Government raise the issue of the approvals process, particularly for the Stage 2B of this project. The Commonwealth Government’s clearly keen on getting light rail built. Has there been any work at the federal level to streamline those highly complex approval processes?

CATHERINE KING: Well, again, you know, that would be a matter of the work on – that we’ve committed funding for the planning. And obviously you do have the unique circumstance where you have the National Capital Authority here. And they would be matters for Minister McBain to look at. As the Infrastructure Minister, I’m very keen that we put the investment into planning, that we do the work and we do that systematically. That’s what you saw on the first stage. It’s what you’ve seen here on this stage as well. It’s a really good example of how you do infrastructure properly rather than having politicians go out, as we have seen in the past, making big announcements and then really struggling to deliver and struggling to deliver with the envelope of funding announced. This project is actually doing the work properly, doing the planning work, and I’m sure Minister McBain will work with the ACT Government where we can in terms of making sure that planning work is undertaken.

JOURNALIST: Minister King, there is an election coming.

CATHERINE KING: [Talks over] There is.

JOURNALIST: Do you have a bit more cash lying around for the ACT, would you, for this project and a couple of others?

CATHERINE KING: It’s always a very nice try. Can I, say clearly that of course, the ACT Government makes a very strong representation to the Commonwealth about the needs of Canberrans as do my colleagues Alicia, David, Andrew, and particularly Senator Gallagher. And we’ll have more to say about those things. But I’ll – in answer to a question you asked before, much of this is at risk. At risk. You’ve got the Albanese Labor Government getting on with the job of building Australia’s future, and you’ve got no better example than these infrastructure projects we’re building across the country. When you’ve got to make $351 billion of cuts, where do you think that’s going to come from? 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 dollars of foregone revenue for long lunches – where do you think that’s going to come from? It’s going to come from infrastructure projects. It’s going to come from health. It’s going to come from public servants here in Canberra. That’s where those cuts are. And that is a real risk, a real risk, to the progress that we have made to make sure that we actually are growing a strong economy at the same time as keeping people employed. It’s been a significantly – it’s been a hard thing to do. And all of that is at risk under a Dutton government.

JOURNALIST: You’ve been in the pre-election, with Albanese, targeting Liberal seats. Does that mean the ACT is going to potentially miss out on some essential funding?

CATHERINE KING: What we’ve been doing is doing things properly. We don’t look at colour coded spreadsheets when we make decisions about where infrastructure money goes or where community infrastructure funding goes. I’ve spent a lot of time cleaning up the community grants programmes and really what we see is proper processes that deliver outcomes for communities regardless of whether they’re safe Liberal seats, safe National seats, safe Labor seats, or marginal seats. Because every community, wherever you are, deserves to have a fair chance at getting access to infrastructure funding on the basis of merit and on community infrastructure funding on the basis of merit. The previous government did not do that. The previous government and the audit report into community infrastructure and sports rorts said they deliberately used Commonwealth funding for political purposes. We can’t go back to the bad old days of that because that means communities miss out. Safe National party seats miss out. Safe Liberal Party seats miss out. Safe Labor Party seats miss out. And at the end of the day, it means the community misses out.

JOURNALIST: Councils are obviously struggling across the regions. Local governments are also asking for more funding from that point of view. Is that something that could potentially happen?

CATHERINE KING: I am very proud that we have doubled Roads to Recovery, so every single council across the country is now receiving double the amount of money for road funding. And so really – and that is built into the budget permanently, long term. They don’t have to come begging as they did under the Coalition, year on year saying can we please have more. Can we please have more in order to just fund the basic needs for communities? I’ve wanted to make sure that those roads in particular are a really significant thing that local governments have to do. They’re the roads that we drive on every day, taking our kids to childcare, to kindy or to school, making sure we can get to work. Those country roads in particular, so that doubling of roads to recovery, building it up to $1 billion available across every council, not just some councils as the previous government did, but every council. I’m very proud of that and have locked that in. In addition to that, we’ve had money for community infrastructure. We’ve had money now for disaster resilience. And all of that has been really focused on building the capacity of local government to do the service delivery that it needs to do and also get money for roads. So what happens.

JOURNALIST: On to the- can you- can the ACT rely on a Labor federal government to make further contributions to the project once it gets underway?

CATHERINE KING: Well, as I’ve said, the way in which we do infrastructure is we look at- we’ve released money, made money available for planning of 2B making sure that we’ve got that detailed design work and we know how much it actually is going to cost, and then we can work through our future budget processes to make sure we’ve got construction money. 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 will need construction money into the future. But decisions about when we put construction money in are subject to budget processes, and that’s exactly how it should be, because at the moment we don’t know how much it’s going to cost. We don’t know all of the scope of that. And that’s really the work of the first bit that we’ve released planning money for. And that’s how you should be doing infrastructure projects rather than rushing ahead to make an announcement, to get a good press release and get good coverage, what you want to do is actually deliver this properly.

JOURNALIST: Thank you. Minister. One for the chief.

ANDREW BARR: There we go. I thought I was – great. Yeah.

JOURNALIST: Consultation is now open on the new water sharing plan with New South Wales. Does this impact plans to expand the border into New South Wales and build a water pipeline for Yass?

ANDREW BARR: Well, look, it shouldn’t. There are, I think, standalone discussions, that have- each has their own merit. The point the ACT has made is that any pipeline to Yass would need to be- the costs of that would need to be borne by New South Wales, but we may be able to come to an agreement where we can provide water and sell water into the Yass Valley. But that, I think, is a separate conversation from the slight move of the border to facilitate, a housing and community development that I think has great benefit. And it would be illogical for 10,000 homes to sit just on the New South Wales side of the border, only accessible through the ACT. That would be challenging for public service delivery, emergency services, you can see all of the reasons why it makes sense to shift the border. And we’ve had good and productive conversations with two New South Wales governments now – started with Premier Perrottet and continuing very positively with Premier Minns.