ALISTAIR Coe says the politicisation of light rail has been taken to a new level with the ALP takingdonations from members of a consortium bidding for light rail.

“The decision to go ahead with light rail has a partisan genesis following a deal done between Labor and the Greens following the 2012 ACT Election,” Alistair said.

“However, the news that the ALP is taking donations from one of the potential bidders has destroyed whatever integrity remained with the light rail project.

“What makes this case untenable is that ACT Labor has thrown out standard processes of procurement and the decision on awarding a contract worth hundreds of millions will instead be made directly by Labor politicians in cabinet.” (Page 143 of the Capital Metro Business case states: Cabinet will be requested to provide approvals relating to each of these project milestones, including consortia short-listing and the award of contract.)

“To say this looks dodgy is an understatement.

“What seems even worse is this was only discovered by a ‘typo’ and gives the appearance the ALP was attempting to hide the donations.

Alistair is calling on Andrew Barr to:

1. Publish all payments received by the ACT Labor Party for the Federal or Territory account from members of the light rail consortium.

2. Detail what interaction members of Cabinet have had with members of the consortium.

3. Detail any payments or repayments made by the Labor Party to members of the consortium.

“Failure to do the above will demonstrate that the Labor Party is conflicted and the light rail debacle cannot proceed before the election,” Mr Coe concluded.