The Federal government is conducting a review into a number of large infrastructure projects, including those in Victoria with a view to withholding funding for dud projects and cutting wasteful spending.
At the same time the Andrews government is putting much needed public transport measures such as the Airport Rail Link and the high speed train to Geelong on hold because it is in financial trouble. The Victorian budget is looking to cut costs wherever it can, but Deputy Premier Jacinta Allan says ‘the budget won’t hurt working families.’
Instead of cuts to public transport measures and other socially beneficial projects such as public housing, I can think of one dud project which would save at least $18 billion on current estimates from the initial $10 billion in 2016.
By dumping the North East Link project and reinstating already destroyed parkland not only will we help ‘working families’ but we will prevent a host of other environmentally damaging impacts in Melbourne’s north east. These include increased air and noise pollution, increased climate change impacts, the loss of thousands of trees and considerable parkland and massively increased traffic congestion, particularly on feeder roads to name a few issues.
The Andrews ‘Big Build’ has all the wrong priorities. NE Link is an environmental disaster and will not solve traffic problems.
John Young
Eastsider News June 2023