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Albanese saves residents from Labor: drops Southern Sydney Connection
Thursday 05 August 2010
The Greens today congratulated local residents for their campaign which has seen Federal Minister Anthony Albanese refuse to fund an elevated four lane arterial road through remediated parkland at Tempe and dump traffic into residential areas of St Peters and Erskineville. They are calling on Mr Albanese to take the bigger step of ruling out funding the $4.5 billion M5 duplication altogether.
“Minister Anthony Albanese is in the uncomfortable position of having to save local residents from a proposal put by Labor’s dysfunctional state government,” Ms Rhiannon said.
“As MP for Grayndler Mr Albanese has made this announcement to shore up votes for himself and Sydney MP Tanya Plibersek before the election, while trying to resist criticism of his NSW Labor colleagues by blaming the RTA instead.
“Mega motorways are a passion of both the NSW and Federal governments, but a non-solution to Sydney’s traffic congestion problems.
“The Greens have a plan for a dedicated, sustainable transport arm within Infrastructure Australia, to focus the allocation of federal funds on public transport, not motorways,” Ms Rhiannon said.
Candidate for Grayndler and former Marrickville Mayor Sam Byrne said,
“This is a great win for residents’ group Tempe 2020 and other locals who have fought hard to kill off this elevated motorway which would have shattered Tempe Reserve, divided communities, increased air pollution and induced traffic.
“The Federal government has created a massive truck problem by agreeing to expand Sydney Airport and Port Botany, but the solution does not lie with motorways which attract cars and increase greenhouse gas emissions.
“Mr Albanese will create a new set of issues with his proposal to create direct links from the Airport and Port Botany in place of the Southern Sydney Connection. Conveniently, these will appear after the Federal election.
“It’s time Mr Albanese ruled out funding the billion dollar M5 duplication and the M4 East extension altogether.
“Every funding allocation for motorways from the Building Australia Fund bucket means less money for public transport.
“Analysis of the Federal Budget reveals that Minister Albanese preferred to invest $27.7 billion over six years in roads, $4.2 billion in the latest budget alone, while additional public transport spending, on the other hand, is zero. That’s simply a massive investment in further traffic congestion and pollution,” Mr Byrne said.
Contact: Lee Rhiannon - 0427 861 568, Sam Byrne 0408 231 509
