The results of the 2024 ACT Legislative Assembly election are in, and we know now that Canberra has elected 10 Labor, nine Liberal, four Green, and two independent Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLA). We also know that this will be an ACT Labor minority government, with supply and confidence provided by the ACT Greens. With various MLAs having retired, some failing to be re-elected, and independents returning to the Assembly after a long absence, this term of government (2024-2028) has a different cast of characters from the previous four years.
Last week, ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr also announced his new Ministry. Under these new arrangements, Chris Steel MLA retains the transport and planning portfolios, while gaining Treasury, heritage and sustainable development. The ACT Government agency responsible for delivering Light Rail to Woden (Major Projects Canberra) will also be expanded and renamed Infrastructure Canberra.
So, what does this election result mean for public transport in the ACT over the next four years?
Thumbs up
Public transport champions: The community has re-elected many MLAs who have been public transport champions and supporters across the previous term and earlier. It’s great to see Jo Clay, Chris Steel, Shane Rattenbury, Andrew Braddock and Laura Nuttall returned, and we look forward to seeing them continue to advance public and active transport causes in the Legislative Assembly and in their respective communities. We hope that new MLAs will also get on board with the public transport cause; PTCBR is keen to meet with any and all MLAs in the new term to discuss key issues.
Light rail stays on track: The community has re-elected MLAs from the two parties that have committed to continuing on with the Light Rail to Woden project. A Canberra Liberals win would have been catastrophic for the future of this city with respect to transport and land use planning, with the party having long promised to axe Light Rail Stage 2B (Commonwealth Park to Woden). It remains to be seen if their opposition to the project will continue after yet another loss at yet another “light rail election”.
Public transport in the spotlight: PTCBR was glad to see public transport feature as a key issue in this election. We had a fantastic turnout of over 60 people at our election forum and noted many other community election forums covering transport issues. Canberra’s population is made up of people of all kinds with many different interests and needs, and we know that public transport won’t be at the top of everyone’s list. We also know that getting transport right is key to building and maintaining a great city, and we will continue to push for public transport to become an increasingly important issue in Canberra.
Strong opposition: It goes without saying that we disagree with his party’s enduring and ideologically-driven opposition to light rail, but nonetheless we congratulate Canberra Liberals transport spokesman Mark Parton on his re-election. Mr Parton is a regular public transport user and knows his stuff in this space. Last term he asked many hard and fair questions of the government regarding public transport operations and projects, and we hope his efforts encouraged more Liberal MLAs and more of the party’s voter base to care about public transport issues. With Parto having been appointed as Speaker of the ACT Legislative Assembly, we hope the Liberals will appoint another spokesperson who will take the role as seriously as he did during the last term of government.
Question marks
More of the same?: Simply put, the last four years was a wasted period for transport in the ACT. Labor delivered some very ordinary results in the public transport space over the last term of government – while COVID was a shock that no-one could have anticipated, that excuse can only go so far. PTCBR is yet to see any signs that this might improve in the next four years. Bus on-time performance is at a sad 74% – that is, one in four buses is running either early or late. Getting a firm delivery timeline on the urgently-needed final stage of the Belconnen Transitway has been like pulling teeth. And while it’s great to have seen contracts signed for Light Rail Stage 2A (Alinga Street to Commonwealth Park), the lack of any written commitment about Stage 2B in ACT Labor’s Supply and Confidence Agreement with the ACT Greens makes us nervous. Stage 1’s 2019 opening continues to fade into the past, and the public needs to see action and urgency in delivering the next stage that was first announced back in 2016. PTCBR hopes this election result galvanises ACT Labor into delivering tangible public transport outcomes across both buses and light rail.
Underwhelming promises: It’s important to note that, for all their positive rhetoric, ACT Labor in fact made a rather thin set of public transport promises during the campaign. Most announcements related to previously-made commitments, or were headline-grabbing gimmicks that won’t actually improve service quality. Disappointingly, Labor also brought no new light rail policy to this election, save for a last minute suggestion to journalists that a staged opening may be considered for Light Rail Stage 2B. Commitments to increase light rail services on weekends and increased peak-hour frequency would have been great to see, to improve on what is already an excellent performance from our light rail system. On the matter of light rail network expansion, it’s hard to see how Labor’s stated commitment to sign the Stage 2B contract after 2028 – that is, after the next election – remains feasible. They have not won convincingly enough to claim a mandate for their platform, and we suggest that the notable vote for independents says that the people of Canberra are reasonably happy with Labor’s broadly progressive agenda but are looking for action.
What’s next?
The search for savings: Minister Steel is now responsible for Treasury as well as transport, planning and sustainable development, and heritage. It will be interesting to see whether this translates into more or less funding for transport compared with previous years. Early signs suggest the latter is more likely, with speculation that the Minister will be looking to find savings where he can for his first budget in 2025-26. If this is indeed the case, Steel may wish to examine the chronic unreliability problems and poor weekend service frequencies that plague Canberra’s bus network. The 2015 ACTION expenditure review identified a number of areas where efficiencies could be found – and the Government response left quite a few of these recommendations on the table. Ten years on, we think it’s time to take another look at Transport Canberra’s performance to find potential areas where inefficient processes are leading to poor outcomes for passengers.
Light rail to Woden… eventually: The next four years will see work construction commence on Light Rail Stage 2A, with completion estimated for early 2028. The current timeline shows early works for Stage 2B commencing as early as 2026-27, with the various development approvals for the broader project being undertaken in parallel.
During this time, there will be further opportunities to provide feedback on Light Rail to Woden. Back in July, PTCBR provided our own views on the Environmental Impact Statement drafting process, and we will be interested to see how our suggestions are incorporated into the next stages of the project design.
MyWay+ goes live: Some time later this month, Canberra’s new public transport ticketing system will be switched on. We’re now well past the six week transition period that was budgeted in the 2024-25 ACT Budget (see page 172), so hopefully we don’t have much longer to wait before we can pay for bus and light rail trips with debit and credit cards (among other new payment methods). If you haven’t already, head over to the Transport Canberra website to familiarise yourself with how MyWay+ will change the way you pay for your public transport journeys.
Better buses?: During the campaign, Labor promised to buy an extra 110 electric buses over the next term of government. This will enable local bus services to run every 20 minutes on weekdays and support the roll out of three new rapid bus routes. Details on these new rapid services are vague, but were described as servicing the city’s growth areas of West Belconnen and the Molonglo Valley, as well as Tuggeranong. With a bus network review scheduled to take place in early 2025 to accompany the opening of the new Woden Bus Depot (see page 32), we may well see Canberra’s first meaningful bus service improvements since the introduction of Network 19. For this to occur, the ACT Government will need to seriously lift its procurement game. Another four years of missed targets would be highly embarrassing for a government that has explicitly stated that it wants a sharper focus on delivery this term. PTCBR will be watching closely to see whether the reality matches the rhetoric!
Now the election dust has settled, PTCBR is looking to the future and what our next efforts will be – as the points above show, we’ve got our work cut out for us. We would love to see new faces involved, so please come along to our Annual General Meeting on Saturday November 23 and help us set our direction for the year ahead and beyond!