Eyes on Andrews with East West costs counted
Victorian premier Daniel Andrews is feeling heat from various parts of the Liberal party over the multi-billion-dollar East West Link road project.
Federal Liberal MPs from the outer suburbs of Melbourne want Andrews to go ahead with the dumped toll road.
The Victorian Government is trying to deal with the legal fallout from its decision to dump the divisive project, including some extremely sticky contract conditions from the consortium hired to build the road.
Alan Tudge - the federal member for Aston and Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister – is behind a new campaign and petition that simply states; “Dan Andrews, Build the Link”.
Tudge is joined in his push by Federal MPs Michael Sukkar, Tony Smith and Jason Wood.
They say it could cost Victoria more to cancel the project than to proceed with it, but opponents say this is because of clauses signed by the previous LNP Government that guaranteed billions in compensation if the road did not go ahead.
The business case for the project – which was not publically released until after the change in government – shows a very low benefit cost ratio, with models predicting it would take 56 years to cover the cost of construction.
“Tony Abbott described the November 2014 election as a referendum on the East West [Link], the people of Victoria have spoken on the East West,” Victorian Government frontbencher Martin Foley said.
“These Liberal members of the Federal Parliament should worry more about delivering for the people of their community, rather than re-litigating a matter that the Victorian people have made their judgement on,” he said.
The new stoush comes just days after it was revealed that the Victorian Government may have to pay the Queensland Government if the project does not go ahead.
The state-owned Queensland Investment Corporation (QIC) has a 30 per cent stake in East West Connect; the businesses behind the estimated $6.8 billion project.
Premier Daniel Andrews has hinted he would be willing to pay Queensland for costs already incurred, but not to compensate for lost future earnings.
The QIC would be just one of dozens of lending groups that look set to share in a $1.2 billion compensation bill.
The Victorian Government has not ruled out imposing new legislation that would allow it to avoid paying the compensation.
Labor’s plan to deal with traffic congestion in Melbourne is to expand public transport and replace level crossings.