Hobsons Bay Council staff were told to sign confidentiality agreements to receive secret details about an unpopular plan for a level-crossing removal in Melbourne’s west.
The revelation was aired at a council meeting on Tuesday night, when infrastructure and city services director Matthew Irving told the chamber he had been asked last year to sign a confidentiality agreement to be allowed to view more information about the level-crossing removal project in Newport.
Gill Gannon (left) and Bea Tomlin, who help co-ordinate the Keep Champion Road Open group.Credit: Joe Armao
“I did not sign that confidentiality agreement as I did not feel comfortable to do so, as I saw the type of information that I would be exposed to as not needing to be confidential,” Irving said.
Sources with knowledge of the situation but not authorised to speak publicly have told The Age multiple council employees had been asked to sign such an agreement.
Newport residents have been fighting the $369 million plan to pull out two level crossings because they say the project will cleave their community in two when it permanently closes Champion Road, a key thoroughfare connecting Williamstown and Newport, next year.
The community is calling for the plan to be halted, preferring to keep the Champion Road level crossing as-is rather than proceed with the current proposal.
Last week, The Age reported that Newport’s sitting state and federal members, both Labor MPs, publicly questioned whether the state government project should continue.
On Tuesday, councillors unanimously voted to change their approach to dealing with the Level Crossing Removal Project (LXRP) government team, after council officers determined their regular meetings were leading to “limited positive outcomes” and the council’s feedback was not being considered.
The council resolved to only meet with LXRP staff when necessary, deciding most of their interactions would be in written form.
Irving explained that he hoped the new approach would make clear to the community what communication was and was not occurring between council staff and the LXRP team.
Champion Road would be permanently blocked off to remove the level crossing, under a state government plan.Credit: Joe Armao
Hobsons Bay Mayor Daria Kellander said she was alarmed that council employees had been asked to sign non-disclosure agreements, hiding information from councillors and residents.
“If there is nothing to see, then there is nothing to hide,” she said.
Kellander said she hoped the revised approach to communicating with LXRP would make clear that the closure of Champion Road was solely in state government hands and that input from the council – which opposes the plan – had largely been ignored.
This is the latest in a string of Victorian government Big Build projects that have been shrouded in secrecy.
On Tuesday, The Age revealed that charities, schools and sporting clubs had signed agreements barring them from criticising the Suburban Rail Loop or doing anything to damage the government’s reputation in exchange for grant money.
The Age also reported last month that the North East Link project had entered into more than 7000 non-disclosure agreements, including forcing people with house or tyre damage from the toll road’s construction to sign secrecy deals in exchange for compensation.
Gill Gannon, who has co-ordinated the Keep Champion Road Open campaign since 2022, said it was disturbing that council officers had been encouraged to withhold information from elected councillors and the community.
Gannon said she was baffled by the state government’s “bloody-mindedness” on the project after Labor suffered a 16.5 per cent swing at this month’s Werribee state byelection.
Local campaigners Bea Tomlin (left) and Gill Gannon. Gannon says the government’s actions do not reflect its claim that it’s listening to residents in Melbourne’s west.Credit: Joe Armao
“The premier came out after the Werribee byelection and said they’re listening to the people of the west, but subsequent behaviours don’t reflect that,” she said.
Gannon applauded the council’s courage in standing up to the government but feared that the new communication approach could backfire if the council did not receive timely information.
“It shouldn’t be necessary for the council to do this. I worry that the community will be the collateral damage.”
A spokeswoman for the Level Crossing Removal Project said confidentiality agreements were standard practice during planning when technical details were not yet finalised.
“We regularly provide project updates to all key stakeholders, and we will continue to engage with them,” she said.
“Removing these dangerous and congested level crossings will pave the way for the Werribee Line to be level-crossing free in 2030.”
The Level Crossing Removal Project previously said that building an elevated sky rail or a trench under the road would not be possible in Newport.
The project will block off Champion Road and instead divert traffic along an extension of Akuna Drive to Maddox Road, where the rail line will be elevated. Early site works began in December.
Federal MP Tim Watts last week said the Newport level-crossing removal project should not proceed in its current form and that he had asked Premier Jacinta Allan and Transport Infrastructure Minister Gabrielle Williams to pause.
“This project would, at significant cost, diminish the utility of the local road network to our community,” said Watts, whose seat of Gellibrand takes in Newport and Williamstown.
Earlier this month, senior Victorian minister and Williamstown MP Melissa Horne told state parliament’s lower house that the community was “vehemently opposed” shutting down Champion Road, and called for more work to improve the plan’s safety outcomes.
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