“Canberra Matters” columnist PAUL COSTIGAN begins a series of several online case studies of how the elected ACT government has lost track of reality.

ON Monday, October 10, four blokes showed up at the construction works to lift London Circuit for the tram. In the middle were the ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr and Transport Minister Chris Steel plus on the outside two senior fellas in charge of the works that were about to begin.

Photos were taken to show that these blokes were skilled at holding shiny shovels and a waving them about. It is when officials undergo such silly photo-opportunities that it is confirmed that such politicians no longer live in a same world as most people in Canberra. Nonsense in spades!

There may be other interpretations. This may have been a signal that they were thanking Senator Katy Gallagher for not saying anything nasty about how this Greenslabor government is allocating any cash it can lay is hands on, be that ACT taxpayers or Commonwealth funds, to get their dream toy tram along three more stops to Commonwealth Bridge.

Senator David Pocock has listed a series of issues that should be addressed. We wait to see if he follows through on these. But then again, he is an independent politician, so Barr and co will have no time for his views.

Besides, with Senator Gallagher on side, the independent senator can ask as much as he likes as no answers will be forthcoming. He definitely was not invited to the spade waving photo-op.

Then again, maybe it was really about putting the message out there that this Greenslabor government does not take seriously the ACT Auditor-General’s report that raised doubts about whether the costing as provided by the ACT government added up or made sense. Shovel that up your audit!

Many community groups have raised doubts about the tram as being the most appropriate form of transport for the Woden-to-Civic connections. The photo with spades was a clear sign that this government has no time for evidence-based criticisms or questions. Dig a hole and bury those annoying facts!

Then there is the obvious. This progressive ACT Greenslabor government is about blokes playing with their spades. No women were invited. Why would you?

Most of Canberra knows that the ACT Greens made a lot of the initiative to build the tram to Gungahlin, to Woden and eventually to the moon. The ACT Greens claim credit for the tram while turning a blind eye to the reality that this super-high-cost form of transport is being built at the cost of the ACT’s education, housing, homelessness and social service programs.

Mysteriously, the ACT Greens were not invited. This was a Labor blokes-only event.

This is a case study of a government that no longer practices good governance. Future studies will try to work out how the ACT Greenslabor coalition developed the bad habit of not respecting the community sectors who clearly saw through the spin. They will also examine the role the endorsed proxies who jump up and down every time someone criticises the tram.

Trams in Canberra should have been built decades ago. Trams are great form of transport – in cities that can afford them. Most people who question the huge expenditure are not against trams as a modern form of transport – when appropriate. They worry more about what is being lost to pay for this tram in this century in this city while all other transport options are ignored.

This tram will most likely happen – at least to Commonwealth Bridge. That stupid photo with spades does not mean it can be justified.