The St George and Sutherland region has experienced decades of recycled promises and reversals by both sides of politics.
There have been two recent decisions which relate to whether current Federal and State Governments are keeping faith with our communities.
The challenges were mapped in the Leader during the year, for example in Morrison’s Backyard problems in the three weeks from September 22.
- NSW has no Ports plan and Newcastle and Kembla are being prevented from relieving Port Botany. Its escalating truck numbers will reach 300 per hour outside of peaks in 2030 Vs 85 now. That will continue to 500 per hour in 2040 in the monopoly Port’s hopes and plans. Duplication of the Port rail line will not add a single extra train to the tracks according to detailed econometric testing.
- Promised ‘‘Gateway’’ and F6 roadworks, to get trucks off local roads, have a projected cost of $11 billion of which just $50 million has been funded, with no chance of completion by 2025 where the ‘‘social contract’’ level of trucking will have been exceeded. The F6 has been truncated anyway north of Loftus. Both Governments are in lock-step behind Port Botany Inc in these matters.
- The same monopoly also owns Port Kembla and it plans to increase its import capacity of cars from 390,000 in 2015 to up to 560,000 in 2025 which is a 44% increase; and up to 850,000 in 2045. The promise had been to start railing by 2010. All cars are carried in trucks up Mt Ousley, predominantly through Sutherland. The daily numbers are going from about 185 trucks a day to 405.
- The Western Sydney City Deal cut-out the proposed freight line from near Campbelltown to the Main West Line. That means that Western coal trains will continue to travel unnecessarily on Illawarra tracks forever, contrary to 1980 planning, with a crunch in capacity by 2030 (commuter train capacity will be in crisis by 2020). The Governments have no answers.
- The Illawarra Line had been promised Metro trains but that was withdrawn; and the Government has refused to look at options. It instructed Roads and Maritime to exclude transit in the F6 corridor.
The conclusion was, ‘‘truck numbers on major roads will drop no time real soon. Mr Morrison has every reason to be worried’’. His fervent desire to have the F6 completed through Sutherland has been defeated.
The first recent decision showed the Berejiklian Government’s true intentions regarding the removal of trucks from the Ports and general traffic through the F6 and the ‘‘Gateway’’ project.
In mid-December the Government announced that a consortium had been contracted to build a $3.9 billion piece of the mid-section of WestConnex, and that the overall project was within the $16.8 billion. It is ‘‘committed’’ unlike the Gateway and F6 – and the ‘‘St Peters Spaghetti’’ will be a poor choice among options which include Rockdale Council’s Destinations 2020+ solutions.
That new 1km section will move congestion from Rozelle to nowhere as the Iron Cove Bridge won’t have the capacity and will sit above the tunnel anyway! Labor has promised to stop these works. This seems to be a monumental mis-allocation of scarce funds.
The second is the Morrison’s Government’s true intentions about balancing container trucks between all three NSW ports instead of all being dumped on Port Botany. It is continuing with Botany’s intentions to strengthen its monopoly and prevent container operations in Newcastle and Wollongong.
It also released its Mid-Year Economic and Financial Outlook report and its ‘‘budget repair’’ provisions excluded the following theme which had been suggested to the Prime Minister and Treasurer:
- Congestion has been found to be worsening with Metro axial densification without rail and road augmentation, fringe growth centres taking up interurban freeway space, and WestConnex adding 20,000 (20%) to daily traffic in the Rozelle area. Trucking through St George and Sutherland is growing inexorably due to over-focus on Port Botany and Berejiklian’s broken promises on the Gateway and F6, indicating a need to divert wasted money on the Botany duplication to re-planning of Eastern Seabord port and freight planning Along this tortured path lies the Missing Link. In 2009 COAG instructed the NSW Government to prepare a ‘‘City Plan’’ before putting up more silly ideas. The O’Farrell Government cancelled that in 2012. WestConnex’s business case said it would be full by 2031 so what next? and why not the F6?
The St George and Sutherland region is typical of all – there is no way for communities to have their voices heard.
