The Greens respond to the Report by the Parliamentary Inquiry into the Impact of WestConnex which was secured by the Greens and the community.

Greens Member for Newtown Jenny Leong MP:

“The evidence and Recommendations of the Report demonstrate that this project has been a debacle.

“The planning, delivery, financing and lack of transparency has caused significant negative impacts on the community.

“The damage that his project will have on our community is far from over with years of devastating construction and billions of dollars of expenses still to come.

The Aboriginal Housing Company has submitted modified plans for the Pemulwuy Project which includes aboriginal affordable housing and student housing on The Block. These plans and the submissions regarding this new proposal are currently being reviewed by the Independent Planning Commission and you can find details here.

According to the WestConnex M4-M5 Link interactive map showing the proposed tunnel depths throughout the Inner West, many homes located above parts of the route will be potentially irrevocably damaged, according to Greens Member for Newtown Jenny Leong MP and, Jamie Parker MP, Greens Member for Balmain.

Jenny Leong MP:

“Work on the M4-M5 WestConnex 8-lane tunnel should be stopped immediately as the impact on many residents’ homes along the route will be disastrous.
“Depths of between 16-25 metres under many residential streets in Camperdown, Annandale and Leichhardt are extremely worrying given the severe impacts we have already seen on homes in other areas at deeper tunneling depths,” she said.

Jenny Leong MP, NSW Greens Housing spokesperson has responded to the passing of the Residential Tenancies Act in Parliament today, praising some changes, but saying the new laws fail to give renters basic security of tenure by ending unfair no grounds evictions.

NSW Greens Transport Spokeswoman Cate Faehrmann has branded the troubled Westconnex toll road a textbook example of Government mismanagement, poor planning and skewed priorities following the first day of public hearings at the NSW Parliamentary Inquiry into the impacts of the Westconnex project.

“Today we heard compelling evidence from experts and community members which highlighted that Westconnex is a textbook example of Government mismanagement, poor planning and skewed priorities,” Greens MP Cate Faehrmann said.

In response to the bullying and corporate exploitation of one of Australia’s most significant and iconic public places - the Sydney Opera House, Greens MP Jenny Leong, Member for Newtown calls out the culture of bullying in NSW.

“I was appalled when I heard the CEO of the Opera House, Louise Herron, attacked publicly last week. This is about more than turning our beautiful public places into corporate collateral, this is about drawing a line in the sand and saying, enough is enough to the bullies in our community, she said.

The Greens have announced they will move a raft of amendments to protect renters, after the Fair Trading Minister today introduced a Bill amending the Residential Tenancies Act.

The government’s announcement by the NSW Roads Minister that the Gateway project to Sydney Airport will cost taxpayers $2.6 billion demonstrates yet again the extraordinary cost blowout of Westconnex at the expense of public transport solutions, the Greens NSW said today.

Cate Faehrmann MLC, NSW Greens spokesperson on Transport:

“It’s grossly irresponsible that the government continues to throw billions of taxpayers’ money at new toll roads and motorways at the expense of world-class public transport options,” said Ms Faehrmann.

“Tens of billions of dollars of taxpayers’ money is being spent on funneling more cars and trucks onto toll roads to please private operators, yet a fraction of this could be spent on providing direct public transport options for the tens of thousands of commuters and travellers using Sydney’s Mascot Airport every day.

“If the government was serious about relieving congestion around Sydney Airport, it would buy back the airport stations from the private operator and get out of the contract that prevents direct bus services being provided to travellers,” said Ms Faehrmann.

Jenny Leong MP, NSW Greens spokesperson on WestConnex:

“The link to the Airport and Port Botany was one of the key rationales for the $16.8b WestConnex  project.  It’s now become a separate project costing a massive extra $2.6b and still does not link to Port Botany,” said Ms Leong.

“The Liberal National government’s lack of proper planning and exorbitant expenditure on WestConnex and now the Sydney Gateway is astounding given there are far cheaper and more effective solutions.

“This latest announcement that the Gateway link will be toll-free is not to be believed given the re-imposition of tolls on the M4 to make the sell-off deal sweeter for Transurban,” said Ms Leong.

Today’s announcement by the NSW Liberals that a 51% share of WestConnex has been sold to the Transurban consortium is the nail in the coffin for many of Sydney’s drivers who will now be at the mercy of a monopolised toll road regime for decades to come.

Jenny Leong MP, NSW Greens spokesperson on WestConnex said:

“WestConnex is the largest transfer of public funds into private pockets in this country and this sale is the apex of the Liberal’s wholesale sell out of the NSW public. This deal is more about providing a payoff to their big business mates than it is about serving the people of Sydney with efficient and affordable transport options.

Greens Member for Newtown, Jenny Leong MP, has slammed the latest sell off of land around Redfern station reported in the SMH today and called for the sell-off to be immediately stopped.

“Shamefully, this isn’t an isolated incident in our local area - the wholesale sell-off of public land around Redfern station started with the Australian Technology Park site, is happening just down the road in Waterloo, and it’s clear from these latest leaked documents that the Liberal’s privatisation agenda continues.”