The first party ad of the ACT election has been released by the Canberra Liberals, and there's no surprise on the focus.
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The 30-second ad attacks the Labor government's light rail policy, with a glum young woman apparently walking home with multiple bags and her high heels in hand.
"What will the tram really mean?" the ad says.
"It means only 3 per cent of Canberrans will live within walking distance.
"It means busses cancelled, it means the trees on Northbourne Avenue cut down and replaced with wires, and it means all the money - billions of dollars - can't be used for anything else."
The ad will air on multiple commercial networks from Saturday night. A Canberra Liberals spokesman said there would be ongoing ads during the campaign.
A spokesman for Chief Minister Andrew Barr criticised the ad, saying there would be a net gain in trees along the route and no bus depots would be closed.
The net present cost of the 20-year tram project – the cost in 2016 dollars of the construction, operations and financing – is $939 million.
Unions ACT released the first specific ACT election ad on August 6, with the 30-second union-funded ad featuring long-time nurse Jude Dodd, standing in a friend's kitchen and asking, "What jobs will they cut next? Nurses? Public servants? Teachers? I just feel the Canberra Liberals are not being upfront with us."
The advertisement follows the claim from Chief Minister Andrew Barr that the Liberals would cut 2000 jobs from the public service, a claim that relies on faulty calculations and assumes the Liberals will be trying to fund promises they have not made.
