Greens Media Release – Monday May 24, 2010
Brumby Betrays Melbourne with East/West Tunnel
New documents uncovered by Greens MP Greg Barber last week show The Brumby Government is still planning to build the controversial East/West Tunnel, despite local campaigners defeating the project last year.
“The Brumby Government is betraying the people of Melbourne by continuing with the unnecessary East/West Tunnel after they had let us think we had got rid of it,” said Melbourne Greens candidate Brian Walters today.
“Several parks are at risk if this project is allowed to go ahead, and it will do nothing to solve the real transport problems of our city.
“The Greens know, the people of Melbourne know, and independent experts know, that this money should go towards improving public transport, not towards expensive, ineffective roads.”
Independent expert Professor Peter Newman, who is on the advisory council of the federal government's Infrastructure Australia fund, said there is no longer a strong case for funding ''incredibly expensive road projects''.
''The reason we gave $4.6 billion to urban rail projects was that it was economically the best option,'' Professor Newman said, adding that car use in Australian cities has declined in the past five years.
''This is an historic point: after going up every year for 100 years, it has spent five years going down. The reality is that public transport is going gangbusters.''