Yarra Campaign Against The Tunnel

Say No to tunnels and toll roads
The current government intends to spend $18 billion primarily on road projects, which include tunnels, toll roads and an elevated freeway through Sunshine and Footscray. An alternative vision is to spend this money on sustainable public and rail freight transport in the east, west, central and southern suburbs of Melbourne.

Join us for a Community Rally and Picnic
Venue: Flinders Street Station Date: Sunday, 26 October 2008. Converge: 11.45am for 12 noon start Speaker: Daniel Bowen, President Public Transport Users Association (PTUA) Travel: By Train, Tram or Bike. BYO: Banners, Placards, Signs, Group Travel Arrangements Picnic: Post Rally, Alexander Gardens, opposite National Gallery of Victoria

The Coalition of Transport Action Groups (CTAG) is a newly formed coalition of resident, action and environmental groups from the East, Inner, West and Southern suburbs of Melbourne. We are committed to opposing the Eddington Report’s recommendations for the construction of tunnels, new freeways and toll roads and advocating for sustainable public and rail freight transport.

Volunteers required for YCAT campaign
Several thousand leaflets will be available this week for the upcoming Community Rally on Sunday 26 October. Can you help distribute them? Rally leafleters still required for Carlton, South Abbotsford & North Fitzroy. Please respond by email to infoATycat.org.au or ring Freda on 0403 526 342

Contact YCAT, Register Your Concern and Volunteer details
You can use our updated Contact page to leave a message, provide feedback, register your concern or to help with volunteering for the YCAT campaign.

Simply go to the Contact page (see link below), fill in the details relevant to you or volunteer to assist with the YCAT campaign. Please note: Yarra Campaign Against the Tunnel is committed to protecting the information you voluntarily provide and will never share it without your consent.

• Contact YCAT, Register Your Concern and Volunteer details

Welcome to new YCAT Supporters!
Welcome to Melbourne University Student’s Greens & Environmental Groups - recent affiliates of YCAT. They will be leafleting for the Community Rally, a stall and also attending the rally. Thank you to Yarra Council for organising and paying for the commercial printing of our No Tunnel Rally Flyer. The on-going “in-kind” support of the elected Councillors and the City of Yarra for the YCAT campaign.

Thanks to SP and the Greens for their statements of support. We invite all the candidates and parties in the coming municipal elections to make contact with YCAT and pledge their support to the YCAT Campaign. If you or your community group would like to become YCAT supporter, please contact us! More details soon about the council candidates’ forum.

Keep an eye out to stop the Brumby mole popping up in your backyard!

The Victorian Greens have released a discussion paper and website proposing a major upgrade of Melbourne’s public transport system. The $14 billion blueprint allows Melburnians to go anywhere by public transport with high-frequency train, tram and bus services covering 101 major centres.

• The People Plan

The Age: Labor split over new tollway plans

A new tollway proposal in Sir Rod Eddington’s transport plan for Melbourne has split the Victorian Labor Party’s transport policy committee.

The committee’s secretary has resigned in disgust at a decision to endorse all 20 recommendations in Sir Rod’s report to the State Government, including a new multibillion-dollar road tunnel linking the city’s east and west. The committee’s response to the Eddington proposals will be presented to the ALP state conference today, and Premier John Brumby will release his transport plan for Melbourne next month.

The secretary, Pat Love, has written to his committee colleagues, along with Roads Minister Tim Pallas and Public Transport Minister Lynne Kosky saying he would bring forward the end of his term because of the committee’s support for more freeways.

“Recent decisions of the committee, most importantly the decisions to support all 20 recommendations from the (Eddington) study, prompted me to bring this forward prior to the state conference. I handed my resignation to Kevin Bracken last Monday,” he wrote in an email sent on Thursday night and obtained by The Age. “As you know, I have argued both internally on the committee and externally in public forums that now is not the time to build another road tunnel.” [Read more →]

On Thursday, 25 September 2008 representatives from Community Action, Residential and Environmental Groups from Eastern, Western and Central Melbourne met.

The groups elected to work together to oppose the state government’s plans for an East-West Tunnel and Toll Roads and to advocate for sustainable transport.

The meeting agreed on a joint campaign commencing with a community rally on Sunday, 26 October 2008 at noon at Flinders Street Station followed by a family picnic in the park.

Note the day and time in your diaries, tell your friends, get a group together, bring your placards and watch this space for further information.

• NEW! YCAT resources: click here to print your own posters!

Community Rally - Flinders Street Station: Sunday, 26 October, 2006 @ 12 Noon

• Announcement: Community Action Groups Agree on Joint Campaign (PDF file)