Mosman councillor Simon Menzies asks: ‘Where is our tunnel?’
MOSMAN councillor Simon Menzies is not sitting back and waiting for the Beaches Link tunnel to happen — he’s actively campaigning for the NSW government to start digging.
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WHERE is our tunnel? That’s the question posed by a Mosman councillor who is starting a campaign to see the Beaches Link construction project realised.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian promised before the recent by-election that work on the long-awaited tunnel would start by next year.
And with a state election looming, Cr Simon Menzies believes it’s time to start putting pressure on the NSW Government to deliver the contracts.
“We’ve been waiting 30 years,” Cr Menzies said. “I feel very strongly that we’ve got to do something. Just to sit back and be hopeful and keep our fingers crossed is not enough.”
Cr Menzies brought his idea to Mosman Council and asked it to drive a campaign in support of building the tunnel. He didn’t get enough votes from his fellow councillors for the idea but is not discouraged and has decided to run his own campaign.
“In the world of politics, if you see something and you want it you’ve got to go and make it happen,” he said.
The campaign is employing an online petition at change.org. He wants to motivate the people of the lower north shore and northern beaches to get on board and send a strong message to the State Government that they don’t want to be “mucked around”.
Cr Menzies is concerned that the tunnel was promised before the North Shore state by-election last year and that not much has been heard about it since.
One of his aims is to create a circuit breaker so people can find out what is going on with the major infrastructure project.
“As far as we can see they haven’t put the shovel in the ground yet. I think that’s important they do that sooner rather than later,” he said.
“I don’t think Gladys would be surprised to know that if she doesn’t keep the commitment she will find it very hard to get her local members re-elected.”
Premier Gladys Berejiklian told the Mosman Daily an announcement on the project will be made soon.
“The NSW Government is committed to building the Western Harbour Tunnel and Beaches Link — a project only the NSW Liberals and Nationals will deliver,” Ms Berejiklian said.
“We have already invested $77 million to undertake the necessary geotechnical work and will have more to say on the project soon.”
You can find the petition here.