Want a sustainable light rail solution for Canberra? The choice is now dead simple...

Well if you want a sustainable solution to Canberra's commuter transport woes, your options for your voting in tomorrow's ACT election just became dead simple.

ABC666's Ross Solly has reported that the Liberals' Alistair Coe has ruled out the light rail option on the radio this morning.

It's what we've all been waiting to find out. The ACT Greens committed to starting construction of light rail as soon as possible. ALP promised to build the Civic—North Canberra—Gungahlin route. But we've had nothing but empty squib words from the Liberals about yet more studies... Until now—just one day before the election!

Of course Coe tries to spin a line around the cost of building light rail, and yes: rail is expensive. But it is an investment, rather than an expense. The reason for this is all the other expenses that light rail avoids or defers. Primarily among them of course is the massive cost of building more roads for ever-increasing car commuters.

Light rail on a pedestrian-friendly Hibberson Street, Gungahlin - can't you just see it?

There's already been a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis done on all this and it found that if we build the entire Canberra light rail network, we would be in front by more than $1 billion! Coe can't seem to find this report to get his questions answered. But he thinks he can find the billions of dollars that he'd need to build more roads to take all the cars, and conga lines of buses, that would be the only alternative.

Light rail, between the trees on Northbourne Avenue

Frankly, I'm sick of this short-sightedness. It risks breaking the ACT budget, at great cost to so many other essential and appropriate services. Sometimes you have to spend a bit of money up front to save a lot of money down the line. It's called strategic investment. It's called the "big picture". It's called common sense.

It's something the Canberra Liberals just don't get. It's why they don't deserve your vote tomorrow.