Ross Solly:
So, as I mentioned there’s a bit of an event going on down at the Kingston train station this morning with the federal government announcing it’s going to kick some money in towards getting that project – that housing project up‑and‑running. Mary Goode is down there. Good morning Mary.
Mary Goode:
Good morning Ross. Yes, Canberra residents could be living by the Kingston railway station and jump on the train for a faster service to Sydney. That’s where what’s being imagined down here this morning. We’ve had Chief Minister Andrew Barr, the federal Infrastructure Minister Catherine King and Member for Bean, David Smith all here this morning, as well as Member for Fenner, Andrew Leigh who I’m joined with right now. Good morning Andrew Leigh, what’s the Commonwealth offering here today?
Andrew Leigh:
Well, thanks very much Mary. It’s a really exciting $5.8 million joint investment. So, it’ll be $2.8 million from the federal government, $3 million from the ACT Government, and the long‑term plan is about 5,000 new housing units in Kingston and Fyshwick. This is a big precinct as people would know and it’s pretty underused at the moment. It’s a rather sleepy area, ironically around our main train station.
Solly:
I’ll jump in shall I Mary? Hello Andrew Leigh, can you hear me?
Leigh:
G’day Ross, I can indeed!
Solly:
Yeah, good to have you on the show Andrew Leigh. So, the $2.8 million or so that the Commonwealth’s going to be kicking in, what’s that going to be used for?
Leigh:
So, that’s going to be for master planning Ross. Figuring out how the housing would operate. There may well be mixed‑use developments. There might well be things like build‑to‑rent or social housing sitting alongside it. And the ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr has spoken about his desire to speed up the train trip to Sydney. As people who’ve taken it will know, it’s a beautiful train trip but a fairly slow one, weighing in at about 4 hours at the moment. So, Andrew Barr is aiming to work with the New South Wales Government to take about half an hour off that trip. If you can take a little bit more off, then it quickly becomes competitive with driving or flying and I think would be much more attractive to business travellers.
Solly:
So, hang on a minute – is some of this money going to go towards that is it Andrew Leigh, to speeding up the train journey?
Leigh:
The $5.8 million is just for the precinct, but it’s sitting alongside a range of other work which is being done by the ACT Government in collaboration with the New South Wales Government. You know, as listeners will know Ross, these trains are basically always full but they tend to be full of people who don’t mind taking 4 hours to get to Sydney. So, they’re not currently competitive with the old Murrays bus, but it is much more environmentally sound if you can put people on a train rather than on a bus or driving. So, we’re keen as a federal government to support that as the ACT and New South Wales Governments shape up a proposal.
Solly:
And you mentioned there. There’s still, I mean, it’s still very early days isn’t it Andrew Leigh? We contacted the Kingston Residents Association this morning just to find out what they thought about this, and they said that there’s been no chat with them at all about what’s happening today. They’ve been kept out of the loop. They’ve had no breakdown on what the new housing might look like, whether there’s going to be some set aside for public housing, et cetera. I mean, is there any hard and fast rules here for the new housing?
Leigh:
Well, we’re just at the beginning of that process now Ross. So, this will kick off a master planning process which will of course involve extensive consultation with groups such as the Kingston Residents Association. As part of that we’ll be thinking about the mix of housing, the way in which business might be integrated in here with transport networks. There’s a rapid bus that runs down past the train station and so it’s a natural area to be better plugged in. And of course, people are an easy walk from the Jerrabomberra Wetlands which are one of our real jewel assets in the natural environment here in the ACT.
Solly:
This texter says, ‘Kingston housing – great idea. Fast train, even better.’ What will they do though Andrew Leigh, about train noise in the new homes? Is that going to be a problem in this area do you think?
Leigh:
You’d be at the end of the line Ross, and right now train noise isn’t an issue. I think we’ve got 3 or 4 trains leaving a day, so we’re very much thinking about a process which sees us plugged into Sydney. And I don’t think you’d have a train going through the precinct, you’d have a train going to the precinct.
Solly:
Of course, this development is all very much part of the ambitious target that the Commonwealth has set and the ACT Government has set for new housing developments and new housing projects. So, what sort of timeframe would you like to see Andrew Leigh, on this development at Kingston? When might we see the first sods being turned?
Leigh:
I think we’ll have a better sense of that as the master planning process gets underway Ross. One of the things that will tell us is what the land is like for building on and until you know that you don’t have a really good sense as to what the time frames are going to be. But if you don’t do the master planning, you don’t get the homes. And so, this is today kicking off that planning process with the ACT community in an underused part of Canberra with great future potential.
Solly:
This listener says ‘I hope the plans for housing in Kingston respect the heritage of the area and are not completely high rise and luxury’. Andrew Leigh, I mean what is the government doing and how important is the protection of the heritage of that area?
Leigh:
Oh look, it’s crucial. I was just speaking with Dave Smith, Catherine King and Andrew Barr about the history of the Causeway that is one of the earliest developments in the ACT and the traditional hall there which has hosted a range of important events over the decades. So, this is a place which is one of the earliest developments in the ACT and of course that history would be greatly respected as we look to build a development which allows people of all different income bands to live here.
Solly:
Alright Andrew Leigh, thank you for the update and yes, let’s see how the local community reacts and where we might go next on this. Appreciate your time this morning. And by the way Andrew Leigh, I should let listeners know in a couple of days time – on Thursday I think, you’re going to be taking listener questions for local member talkback. So, I hope you’re ready for those Andrew Leigh on Thursday morning.
Leigh:
Can’t wait Ross, looking forward to it.
Solly:
Yep. Do your homework. Get that prep ready – that prep work done. Andrew Leigh out there at Kingston Train Station with the federal government announcing today the collaboration with the ACT Government. They’re going to pump around $3 million into this project to make sure that it’s shovel ready.