Ms O’CONNOR question to MINISTER for INFRASTRUCTURE and TRANSPORT, Mr VINCENT
Minister, I’m making a representation on behalf of my constituents who live in New Town, in Oldham Avenue, Letitia Street and Park Street, in the parts of New Town which would be impacted by the rapid bus transit project which your government has attached itself to rather than light rail. Could you please provide some detail on the consultation that happened with residents of those streets in New Town and what the actual plan is? Noting that Oldham Avenue, in particular, is a narrow suburban street that was never designed or intended for the kind of transport traffic that your government’s rapid bus network would impose on local residents.
ANSWER
I can confirm that the community consultation just shut a bit over a week ago, I think. I was about to say a fortnight but just recently. Since then, we’ve had quite a few different letters come in that were outside that period which we’ve, of course, added to the community consultation.
Quite a few of them were from Oldham Avenue and a few other streets around that that raised various points about narrowness and even going back to what it used to be yesteryear with different bus services and tram services and everything like that. There were a lot of different varied views on it, but mainly about the narrowness of the street.
The department has informed me that, as they are still gathering the information, we haven’t anything other than the collection of information at this stage, so I don’t have a summary of it all other than a lot of the streets and thought patterns were indicative, not second place or anything like that. Once we get that information collated, obviously it’ll come to us for a little bit more information, but it’ll also feed into the business case to be able to go to Infrastructure Australia for funding. However, at this point in time, it’s only indicative.
I am not sure exactly how they communicated that. I don’t have that information before me at the moment.
Ms O’Connor – The residents?
Mr VINCENT – Yes, with the residents, but obviously, if they put submissions in, they have that before them and there’ll be a consultation around that.
Ms O’Connor – There’s a letter from Building Tasmania, I am told ‑ a letter from Building Tasmania to residents outlining the Northern Suburbs Rapid Bus Project and asking for feedback.
Mr VINCENT – Yes, and we certainly have received that feedback, so it’s shut and it’s being collated at the moment.
Ms O’CONNOR question to MINISTER for INFRASTRUCTURE and TRANSPORT, Mr VINCENT
I thank the minister for his answer and clarification that the route that would potentially go through Oldham Avenue is not a fixed route, it’s not a certain route for the rapid bus transit, but I want to ask you a broader question. The rapid bus transit proposal to the northern suburbs, it’s really hard to see how it makes sense. Your own department’s strategic business case has its core benefit-to-cost ratio of 0.28 cents, and with unknown city‑shaping benefits at about .52. So, at the very best, for every dollar spent, we will only see 52 cents worth of benefit out of rapid buses. There are big holes, including the exclusion of light rail as an option. Residents that I speak to and locals in and around Hobart would certainly prefer light rail. I remind you of the McKell Institute report into light rail, which stated the four options that received full economic modelling, transport modelling, and benefit‑cost ratio analysis in the business case were all bus‑based. Light rail was eliminated as an option before any economic modelling was applied.
Minister, given the poor return to the Tasmanian people ‑ or to Commonwealth taxpayers should it be funded by Infrastructure Australia ‑ do you see there are significant issues with the rapid bus project to the northern suburbs, significant issues with the benefits? Has your government completely walked away from the more popular and arguably likely‑to‑be‑more‑successful light rail to the northern suburbs?
ANSWER
I thank the member for Hobart for that question. You’re very selective in the way you put that. Part of the reason why the rapid bus set‑up overall has benefits is because it can also be extended down to Kingborough, where light rail cannot be, or to the eastern shore. The other advantage is that it has the ability to move off the corridor and into populated areas left and right of the corridor. So, there are a lot of advantages there that are not just for the northern suburbs but also for the Kingborough area, as well as the eastern shore area, and that’s where it all links up and makes a lot more sense.
As I’ve stated, we haven’t got full details. We’re working through the business case that can go to AI. I think there are a lot of things that still need to be addressed and talked about, but I’ll be able to do that once I have more information to clarify the feedback that we have and any other information that could come from the department then. Thank you, Mr President.
