Andrew Barr hopes deal with Albanese government will speed up Woden light rail extension

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the National Capital Investment Framework in a speech to the ACT Labor party conference on Saturday morning.

"This is about us working together to create new jobs, build new infrastructure and ensure that Australia's capital is as modern, vibrant and strong as the nation it serves," he said.

Mr Barr, speaking on the sidelines of the conference, said the framework would help the territory and federal public services to work together on jointly identified priorities for Canberra.

"There are so many areas of co-operation where the Commonwealth has a unique role in the territory that it doesn't have in any other state or territory where co-operation can make a big practical difference," Mr Barr said.

Mr Barr said both the ACT and the federal governments wanted to deliver the light rail extension.

"We'll be talking to each other and I think there's a mutual desire to get an outcome here and to get on with it," he said.

"As opposed to the process we've experienced previously on light rail in the national triangle, prolonged parliamentary committee processes, [and a] lack of commitment from the federal government towards the project."

The ACT government has previously said it wanted a more "streamlined" process to approve light rail through the parliamentary triangle.

The National Capital Authority has warned the preferred route through the parliamentary triangle is "technically difficult".

Federal Finance Minister and ACT senator Katy Gallagher said the two governments working together would result in better outcomes for Canberra.

"From our point of view, you know, understanding what the territory government's priorities are and working alongside that is going to be fundamental," Senator Gallagher said.

The framework did not mean the federal and ACT governments would automatically agree on everything, but it would enable them to work better together, she said.

Mr Barr said $85.9 million of funding announced under the previous Coalition government for roads projects that had come as a surprise to the ACT was a good example of what would be avoided under the new engagement framework.

"This will give us a framework through each budget round to engage with the Commonwealth on things that benefit the national capital," he said.

Mr Barr said the framework was different to a city deal because the ACT did not have to also collaborate with local councils.

MORE A.C.T. POLITICS NEWS:

There were 237 delegates at ACT Labor's 50^th annual party conference, held at the Australian National University on Saturday. More than half the delegates belonged to the party's left faction.

A motion calling the AUKUS nuclear submarine agreement a "complete waste and a travesty" had been expected to pass with support from the party's left faction-aligned delegates, but was withdrawn before the conference started.

The party also adopted policy positions to call on the federal government to raise the rate of JobSeeker payments and to drop the stage 3 income tax cuts.

Party delegates also endorsed a policy calling for new electric buses in Canberra to built in Australia and for the fleet to switch to zero-emission technology as fast as possible without affecting service delivery.

The party's platform was also amended to support insourced maintenance workers for public housing properties.