Darebin City Council: Forum on the future of transport

Mayor of Yarra, Cr Jackie Fristacky

Mayor of Yarra, Cr Jackie Fristacky

Live-tweeting from Darebin Councils Forum on the future of transport (see storify links below) on the future of transport (10 September 2013)

The public forum at Northcote Town Hall was a fearless and frank examination of issues surrounding the contentious East West Link, from the reasons behind the hurried push towards commencing the project, sovereign debt, PPP investment, lack of funding for overdue PT projects, need for infrastructure improvements in Darebins growth corridors, concerns about financial burdens upon families, the lack of professionalism and the project not being about transport at all, but PPP investors looking for project with a huge return on investment.

Panellists included Kenneth Davidson from The Age Newspaper, Professor Graham Currie from Monash University and Cr Jackie Fristacky, Mayor of Yarra. The forum was chaired by Councillor Tom Melican from the City of Banyule, who is also the Chair of the Metropolitan Transport Forum. Cr Trent McCarthy represented Darebin Mayor Cr Tim Laurence who was unfortunately too ill to attend.

Earlier, Darebin Mayor Cr Tim Laurence said Darebin Council had joined City of Yarra to support the Trains Not Toll Roads campaign, which calls on the State Government to prioritise the Metropolitan Rail project over the East-West Link project. “The Wrong Way Go Back campaign also calls for State Government to prioritise the west section of the East West Link as without the western link, the number of trucks on inner western suburb roads will continue to grow,” Cr Laurence said.

http://storify.com/yarra_campaign/darebin-transport-forum-1

2 thoughts on “Darebin City Council: Forum on the future of transport”

  1. Mark says:

    Attended the meeting. A lot of people there. All three speakers made very worthy points. A traffic analyst spoke and he showed how only 9 percent of the traffic crosses between the east and west. Well we all knew it was pretty low but it is nice to have a carefully measured number to base your argument on. As he was of English origin, he was shocked by the rejection of expert analysis for such a massively expensive project. Yeah, our politicians just ring up some mates and bankers and stick their thumbs in the air to see which way the wind blows and think, that’s worth an 8 billion dollar bet, after all, it will be the taxpayers who will take the hit – for the 28 years! How can our mates lose on that. Look at the desal, rivers of money!

  2. Jim says:

    In context of what was said at the Darebin meeting by the speakers, people ought to read this article in the Financial Review and note especially Sir Rod Eddington’s comments about infrastructure risk for taxpayers and the failure of PPPs. Also note the last two paragraphs where he makes a very pointed criticism of federal policy on transport.

    http://www.afr.com/p/business/sunday/sell_off_roads_rail_to_super_funds_cZjXn2BeP7mPt6Csb1ZbFI

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