NSW Election 2019: Michael Daley pledges $100m fund for light rail construction victims
Labor has vowed to set up a $100 million compensation fund for those affected by the drawn-out construction of Sydney’s eastern suburbs light rail, if it wins Saturday’s State Election.
NSW
Don't miss out on the headlines from NSW. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Victims of the long, drawn-out construction of Sydney’s eastern suburbs light rail could access a $100 million compensation fund under a NSW Labor government.
Opposition Leader Michael Daley today announced the fund “to make life a bit better” for those along the route from the CBD to Kingsford and Randwick. The compensation would come on top of the rent relief scheme already available.
“There’s a tale of woe for businesses right along the light rail route,” he told reporters just days out from Saturday’s state election.
“Rent relief is not enough.”
Mr Daley said his scheme would cover capital works, remediation of property, and possibly refurbishment works to increase attractiveness or marketing of businesses.
MORE NEWS
NSW Election 2019: Who is promising what
Daley: I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said Asians
Play our election game: Who gets your vote?
But rules on exactly who would be able to access the cash are not yet available.
Mr Daley said they would be worked out in coming months, in consultation with affected businesses, residents and councils.
Hiscoes Gym owner Susan Kingsmill said her formerly stable membership numbers had dipped about 20 per cent since the light rail construction began more than two years ago, in Surry Hills.
While her 38-year-old business’s annual revenue was down $150,000, she said she was just thankful it hadn’t folded like the 40-year-old skincare centre across the road.
“(That owner) couldn’t get reliable water, the jackhammers were destroying her business, there was nowhere for her people to park, so she closed up,” Ms Kingsmill said.
The 12km line — originally forecast to be completed by March — is now not expected to be ready until May 2020. The original cost of $1.6 billion has almost doubled to more than $3 billion under a proposed deal between the transport department and contractor Acciona, The Australian has reported.
Mr Daley wouldn’t say if he would sign the deal if elected premier, but promised to “sit down with Acciona and see what the books say then”.
The Labor leader also spent today talking about another project he says is “emblematic of everything this government does” — the $730m Allianz Stadium knockdown and rebuild.
In his fifth press conference outside the stadium in just over a fortnight, Mr Daley slammed
Premier Gladys Berejiklian for ignoring a 2016 report that said the stadium could have been upgraded to meet safety standards for a mere $18.2m.
Mr Daley is unable to say how much cheaper his plan to refurbish the stadium would cost, but again assured voters they would not pay a cent because any refurbishment cost would be covered by a concessional loan to the SCG Trust.
Motorcyclist dies after hitting tree
A young motorcyclist has died in the Hunter Valley after colliding with a tree. Here’s the latest.
‘Prolonged and repeated’: Mother’s $4k social media scam
A woman who was caught red-handed swindling 10 people on Facebook Marketplace in dodgy phone deals has been told her methods were ‘calculated’ and ‘repeated’.