The Canberra Liberals will accuse the ACT government of allowing the federal government to ignore "much-needed" road upgrades by redirecting funding to light rail at the start of the Legislative Assembly's final sitting fortnight for the year.
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Opposition Leader Elizabeth Lee will move a motion in the Assembly calling on Chief Minister Andrew Barr and Greens leader Shane Rattenbury to write to the Commonwealth to request the $85.9 million be reinstated.
The same amount has been earmarked by the federal Labor government for light rail.
"Canberrans are paying record taxes despite having the longest emergency department wait times in the country, declining education standards and school infrastructure, the lowest number of police per capita and less public housing than a decade ago," Ms Lee said in a statement.
"The responsible ACT minister will not, or cannot, tell Canberrans how much stage 2 of the light rail will cost, or when they'll get it but he's happy to cancel road upgrades to pay for it."
The motion has little chance of being passed, with Labor and the Greens expected to either block or amend it.
However, City Services Minister Chris Steel has previously defended the federal Labor government's decision to cut funding from three major road projects, claiming the south-west corridor upgrade amounted to pork-barrelling.
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Mr Steel said the previous government had approved the "ill-defined" project "which did not have any particular deliverables" prior to seeing a proper business case.
Ms Lee said government services had declined in the ACT because funding had been instead directed towards the light rail network.
The Canberra Liberals' formal position on light rail has become increasingly unclear, with an announcement due the day Queen Elizabeth II died cancelled and never rescheduled.
Ms Lee said in early November the Canberra Liberals would soon announce their formal position on light rail.
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Jasper Lindell
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
