THE federal government has thrown its support behind public transport investment, criticising the opposition’s $1.5 billion promise for the proposed east-west link.
Federal opposition leader Tony Abbott has pledged the money for an 18-kilometre road connecting the Eastern Freeway to the Western Ring Road via the Tullamarine Freeway and Port of Melbourne.
But the Gillard government is backing Infrastructure Australia’s view that the Melbourne Metro rail project should be the priority. The $9 billion metro rail tunnel tops Infrastructure Australia’s priority list and is expected to increase rail network patronage by up to 30 per cent. The opposing views highlight a political divide between investment in public transport and roads infrastructure.
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The parties remain at odds on the projects at the state level, with western suburbs Liberal MP Andrew Elsbury seizing on comments in Parliament by opposition planning spokesman Brian Tee suggesting Labor doesn’t support the east-west link.
Mr Elsbury said: “This is a major kick in the guts for people of the western suburbs who understand the limitations of the West Gate Freeway and the need for a second river crossing running onto another freeway that does not finish at a dead end.
“Labor continues to claim the western suburbs as their natural environment, but when it comes to delivering major infrastructure that’s vitally needed to reduce congestion on our roads, providing direct routes for trucks into the Port of Melbourne and ending our reliance on a single river crossing, they turn and run.”
Opposition roads spokesman Luke Donnellan said Labor believed the state government had no intention of building the western part of the project. He said talk of an east-west link was a smokescreen for connecting the Eastern Freeway to CityLink at the expense of the west.
