The Barnett government should seize the opportunity presented by the shift in the Liberals senseless opposition to urban rail projects, and put Perth Light Rail back on the agenda, according to the Greens.

"Five years of hard work was brought undone when the Barnett Government dumped its election promise to build Max Light Rail. At the time, the loss of Federal funding was cited as the justification," Australian Greens Senator for WA Scott Ludlam said today.

The Barnett Government has written the final chapter of its impressive catalogue of total failure on public transport delivery, admitting at last that its draft public transport plan has been abandoned and will never be finalised.

Perth residents are no closer to the light rail service they were promised, as the State Government stumbles from one incompetent public transport decision to another, Greens Infrastructure spokesperson Scott Ludlam said.

"First we had a $2billion plan, then we had none, now we have a scaled back cheaper version which seems nothing more than a PR exercise to placate voters without any evidence or costings," he said.

Perth Light Rail latest casualty of AAA-rated incompetence

Greens Senator Scott Ludlam, federal spokesperson for Infrastructure
Greens MLC Lynn MacLaren, state spokesperson for Transport

Perth's commuters are the latest victims of State Government financial mismanagement, with Premier Barnett having somehow lost WA's AAA credit rating in the middle of the biggest commodities boom in the state's history.

Greens spokesperson for sustainable cities, Senator for Western Australia Scott Ludlam, says now Colin Barnett has accepted the Greens-led push to build light rail in Perth, the Greens will maintain pressure to ensure Federal funds flow to the project.

"How awkward; Colin Barnett's WA Government Budget today assumes the realisation of May 2013 Federal Labor commitment for $500 million rail in Perth - and yet Mr Abbott has famously ruled out funding any urban rail if he is elected," Senator Ludlam said.

The Greens have congratulated the State Government for its light rail announcement, but warned that the project must be brought forward and begun immediately.

"Working with local government, industry, planners and the broader community over the past four years I have seen the enthusiasm for light rail in Perth grow rapidly," said Australian Greens transport spokesperson Scott Ludlam.

The Greens have welcomed Premier Colin Barnett's announcement to the Chamber of Commerce that electrified light rail should be built in Perth within the next decade.