Janet Rice (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—The Greens did not support Senator Canavan's motion today because we want to have a more nuanced conversation about public transport infrastructure funding rather than just bandying around headline figures like the so-called '$50 billion' from the government. We have spent the past few years with our cities and our regions desperate for infrastructure improvements, particularly public transport and rail—both passenger and freight—and we have had a Prime Minister who point-blank refused to fund public transport.

We welcome the government's sudden epiphany and we support funding Gold Coast Light Rail Stage 2. However, we think that we need to improve the ways in which projects are assessed, which needs to be through structured, transparent and accountable processes.