‘Funny business’ on the way to the Assembly

The second P for Profit, the project certainly produced, but not for the People: government housing was demolished to provide profits for developers. Nor was much consideration given to the third P, the Planet.

THINKING of the tumultuous Roman farce “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum”, I cannot help but be reminded of political events in our age for which the title “A Funny Thing Happened on the way to the ACT Assembly” might be appropriate.

Here, in Canberra, a “funny thing” happened after the ACT election of 2012. The Greens lost three seats out of four, yet succeeded in shaping the face of Canberra and, more importantly, the finances of the ACT government from that time on until today. A new kind of democracy in action?

As I mentioned in an earlier article (“How Labor betrayed Canberra to stay in power”, CN December 22), the sole Greens MLA became the kingmaker. In return for keeping Labor in power with his vote, he was promised the light rail.

In April 2012, the company URS had produced a report for the government documenting that a BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) system would be half the cost of a LRT (Light Rail Rapid Transit) system, bring roughly twice the profit and produce the same develop ment as LRT along the line.

The final sentence of the report states: “BRT is a cost-effective option, whilst LRT generates the best overall outcome for Canberra.”

Funny, because while other statements are well supported with facts and figures, “the best overall outcome for Canberra” appears without further explanations. Was it perhaps a last-minute addition when a government official reading the final draft, reminded the authors that support of the tram was essential?

Since the document was “commercial in confidence” at the time, this “funny thing” did not reach the public. Nevertheless, the then Minister for the Environment and Sustainable Development, Simon Corbell, obviously thought the choice of LRT needed explanation. In an article titled “Light rail best choice for Canberra’s future” on the internet publication “My Gungahlin”, of July 30, 2013, Minister Corbell relying on the above-mentioned URS report concluded that: “A triple bottom line evaluation undertaken of these options comparing their social, economic and environmental impacts to the ‘do nothing scenario’ has shown LRT to provide higher benefits due to its higher social benefits.”

The URS report compared three scenarios: LRT, BRT and “do nothing”. Yet in the above article the Minister compares LRT not with BRT, but only with the “do-nothing” scenario. Funny, isn’t it?

The “triple bottom line evaluation”, namely the three Ps, People, Profit and Planet, are the “social, economic and environmental impacts”. One might well ask what the project did for the People other than those living near a tram stop.

On completion of the line, many found that their bus stop close to home was eliminated, and long walks and changing buses exponentially increased their commuting time. Some even felt the need to buy a car.

Less greenhouse gases would have been produced without the massive amounts of highly polluting concrete, steel etcetera used for the infrastructure of the tram, plus importing the vehicles fully assembled from Spain.

Any government investing a large part of its budget in a fundamental change to its public transport system would surely call on experts for a report on technological developments in mass transit elsewhere in the world.

If the ACT government had done this, they would have learnt that in September 2010 the Chinese automobile company BYD rolled out its BYD K9, one of the most successful electric buses.

In fact, it was so successful that by 2013 the company started production at a plant in California to satisfy the demand of the North American market.

The company’s e-buses range from small six-metre vehicles to large articulated 18-metre buses. There is even a double decker at 10 metres.

The German magazine “Der Spiegel” noted that in 2012 the price for a BYD e-bus was €380,000 Euros ($A589,000), merely €100,000 more than a comparable diesel bus, apparently shocking the German Daimler company similarly perfecting its e-bus. Since then, BYD e-buses have proven themselves so popular they are manufactured and used all over the world.

Funny that with these successful e-buses already available in 2012, the ACT government would go for a light rail system at multiple the cost and pollution regarding infrastructure.

Imagine Canberra today with part of the money spent on the Spanish tram invested in e-buses and the rest in essential public services, such as health, housing, schools, the police, etcetera. Moreover, the CO2 saved if e-buses had begun replacing the polluting diesel buses 10 years ago would be something the Labor/Greens administration could be truly proud of.

Soon Canberrans will be paying for a Board of Inquiry, the result of leaked correspondence between the public prosecutor and the police in the Higgins vs Lehrmann case. Judging from the endless stream of letters to editors, the local electorate might be more interested in an inquiry into the “funny things” that happened regarding the tram.

Historian Beatrice Bodart-Bailey is an honorary professor at the ANU School of Culture, History and Language and an emeritus professor of the Department of Comparative Culture, Otsuma Women’s University, Tokyo.

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