“Examination of the light rail project conjures up an image of a government drowning in its own ideology. There is still no reasonable ‘estimated completion date and cost’ for Light Rail Stage 2!” writes political columnist MICHAEL MOORE.

THE ACT’s financial and planning issues have been put under the microscope by the Assembly committees charged with examining the workings of the government. 

Despite the committees being government-member dominated, it is a bleak picture. Examination of the light rail project, in particular, conjures up an image of a government drowning in its own ideology.

There is still no reasonable “estimated completion date and cost” for Light Rail Stage 2! 

The recommendations of the Inquiry into “Annual and Financial Reports 2021-22” by the Standing Committee on Planning, Transport and City Services are telling. The messages are clear even if the language is relatively soft. 

Stronger language would be politically challenging for the committee. The chair is Jo Clay, a member of the Greens; the deputy chair is Suzanne Orr, the Labor Whip. The shadow transport minister, the Liberal’s Mark Parton is the only non-government member on the three-member committee.

Despite this, and it is a credit to the committee members, the report calls on the ACT government to “announce the estimated completion date and cost for Stage 2B [to Woden] as soon as practicable, as well as updating the estimated time frames after contracts are signed”.

The impression is one of a government that is just muddling through and “playing it by ear”. The ideological commitment to more effective public transport is well understood. However, careful planning and budgeting are simply a fundamental part of good government.

The costs of raising London Circuit on City Hill (RLC) have at least been estimated. The Minister responded to a Question Taken on Notice on November 9 saying more than $100million will be spent on this part of the project alone. But what about a completion date?

The committee commented: “The ACT government should provide more information to the people of the ACT, such as a clear expected completion date”. 

Any commuter recently heading to Civic or past the city centre area is  well aware that the works are underway. Hang in there! There is no indication of when the project will be delivered. 

The committee reported on a statement from Duncan Edghill, of Major Projects Canberra, that “the ACT government ‘did not put a date in the contract; rather, that was something for our tenderers to give back to the territory as part of the procurement process’”.

The report is broader than light rail. Twelve electric buses have arrived in Canberra with a commitment to 90 as part of the government’s environmental strategy. This is to be commended. However, the committee once again is forced to rap the knuckles of the government to “consider publishing the procurement date for the 90 electric buses to be acquired in the near future, as soon as practicable”. 

Also tabled in this sitting of the Legislative Assembly by the chair of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, Liberal Elizabeth Kikkert, was the committee’s report on its “Inquiry into Auditor-General’s Report: 8/2021 – Canberra Light Rail Stage 2A: Economic Analysis”.

Kikkert said: “The committee is of the view that the auditor-general’s audit report was important in identifying gaps in the business case for the project”. 

She added, the recommendations made in this report were aimed at providing the community with more information to be able to more accurately assess the business case for Light Rail Stage 2A”. 

The committee agreed with all of the recommendations of the auditor-general. Not surprisingly, the government-dominated committee also recommended proceeding with the construction of Light Rail Stage 2A. This was despite doubts by the auditor-general and the committee about the level of application in government of the benefits to costs ratio in this project.

The auditor-general stated in his report: “I would argue that the concept of wider economic benefit has been introduced into economic analysis to take account of slightly more esoteric, perhaps, benefits to the community which are the responsibility of government and not strict commercial objectives”. 

The committee has picked up on this comment and recommended (what ought to be standard process) “that the ACT government ensures that an economic analysis of a city-wide network be provided alongside any single-stage analysis for the light rail project”.

The reports reveal a project that simply has had inadequate analysis and will cost ACT taxpayers close to two billion dollars.