North East Link costs slammed North East Link costs slammed at Banyule Leader Transport Forum

BANYULE ratepayers have questioned why $1.5 million was spent on consultants to the North East Link project.

BANYULE ratepayers have questioned why $1.5 million was spent on consultants to the North East Link project.

The road project was picked to pieces by vocal residents at the Banyule Leader Transport Forum.

State Labor MP Anthony Carbines, Liberal MP David Davis and Greens MP Samantha Dunn fronted a large turnout for the event, aimed to give voters ammunition ahead of November’s state election.

Ratepayer Natasha Reifschneider questioned why ratepayers were being asked to pay $1.5 million for consultants through Banyule Council to address the North East Link Authority’s criteria.

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“People of Banyule did not choose this project to come through their municipality but now we have to pay through our rates to understand the impacts of this project on the community,” she said.

Mr Carbines promised if the council demonstrated costs it was incurring because of planning work for the project, they should “absolutely” be reimbursed.

Mr Davis said the work needed to be done collaboratively to reduce costs, while Ms Dunn said the road shouldn’t be built at all and took a swipe at NELA for its lack of communication.

“It’s not helpful when NELA seems to be a black hole that questions go into but answers never come out of. It makes it difficult to get information,” she said.

Friends of Banyule president Dennis O’Connell was baffled the State Government planned to release its design for the road ahead of the state election before accessing the Environmental Effects Statement (EES), which will be finalised next year.

“How can Government and NELA give an assurance that there will no long-term impact on the wetlands area where the tunnelling is to take place?” he said.

Ms Dunn said there couldn’t be long-term guarantees on environmental impacts, while Mr Carbines said the Government wanted to give “people as much information as we can so they can make informed decisions” at the election.

Mr Davis didn’t address the question but said he had dealings with Government bodies such as NELA and the Level Crossing Removal Authority and believed “there is the same arrogant, vicious stream that comes through in all of them”.

“This is a Government that is not engaging or listening to the community,” he said.

Voters were robbed of the opportunity to see how their Liberal and Greens candidates fared in a public forum, with both parties opting to have current MPs David Davis and Samantha Dunn address the audience.

Candidates for both parties, Monica Clark and Andrew Conley respectively, were watching from the sidelines.

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