It’s time the major political parties stopped automatically taking opposing positions on big-ticket infrastructure items such as east-west link, metro rail and the new port of Melbourne. How will we have any certainty and progress if such projects are constantly threatened by a change of government?
Further confusion comes from Canberra where state projects end up being fodder for ill-conceived federal election promises.
It’s time for an independent infrastructure advisory board to be set up that decides where, when and how key state projects are to be built based on economic, environmental, social and practical considerations.
In the case of the new port, there are merits for each option but what we need is a decision that will be most beneficial to the entire state, not just a few local MPs. These projects are too big to get wrong.
