It’s at least a month until the first vehicles enter the long-delayed West Gate Tunnel, but its imposing chimneys have already produced some mass venting.
Left fuming by The Age’s reporting of evidence suggesting the tunnel’s 50-metre sculptured ventilation stacks may be more style than substance, Victorian Roads Minister Melissa Horne decided to let off some steam of her own.
Coverage of a report questioning the suitability of the West Gate Tunnel’s chimneys sparked the ire of Roads Minister Melissa Horne. Credit: Alex Coppel
As a West of Melbourne Economic Development Alliance (WoMEDA) summit opened on Wednesday evening, Horne issued an out-of-hours media statement accusing The Age of spreading “disinformation” in its coverage of an engineering report commissioned by the Maribyrnong Truck Action Group (MTAG).
The engineering report, by consultancy Synergetics, found the tunnel’s giant twin ventilation stacks may not prevent noxious fumes from reaching nearby homes – something likely to raise the eyebrows of many rubbing shoulders with Horne at the WoMEDA summit.
But CBD is concerned that in her haste to issue the missive as the summit was opening, the minister may not have had the time to fully read all of the well-balanced report by Age city reporter Sophie Aubrey.
Of seven “facts which were ignored in yesterday’s article” listed by Horne, CBD was able to find six clearly spelt out in the story, while the other resembled a ministerial talking point more than a news line.
Roads Minister Melissa Horne, Melton councilllor Dr Phillip Zada, and Age city reporter Sophie Aubrey on a panel at the West of Melbourne summit in Werribee on Thursday. Credit: Elke Meitzel
The minister’s claim that the Maribyrnong Truck Action Group had not provided the government with a copy of the engineering report for review also came as a surprise to the group, which assured CBD it had been trying to brief Horne since May, had briefed her colleague Steve Dimopoulos in June, and provided the Environmental Protection Agency a copy in September.
Of course, any confusion about this masthead’s exhaustive coverage of the issue might have been avoided if the government and Transurban had responded to questions by deadline rather than hours after Tuesday’s story was published.
But that probably wouldn’t fit the pattern of the West Gate Tunnel, which was initially due to open in late 2022.
Fortunately for Horne, she had the chance to appear as a member of the West of Melbourne event’s “How do we achieve success in the west?” closing panel, which was hosted by Aubrey, giving everyone a chance to clear the air. Well, almost.
“What the west needs is good, unbiased journalism,” Horne concluded from the stage.
CBD yesterday contacted the minister’s office for comment but, true to form, it did not respond by our deadline.
Best of the west
As regular readers of this masthead are most definitely aware (thanks to our steady stream of articles across the past two months, as above), The Age helped host the West of Melbourne summit, which began at Whitten Oval on Wednesday night and concluded at Werribee Park on Thursday.
Opposition Leader Brad Battin at the summit on Thursday. Credit: Elke Meitzel
Movers and shakers from across the rapidly growing western region gathered to listen to speeches, drink coffee and chat business.
Attendees included Victorian Liberal MP Moira Deeming, who arrived so early that event organisers were still setting up. Deputy Premier Ben Carroll was not quite as punctual, walking into the event an hour after it started and taking a seat front and centre.
Premier Jacinta Allan attended the conference for lunch and her address, which focused on the future of the west. An old face, in Jeroen Weimar, even popped up, helping the premier with a statistic about the number of level crossings removed across the state so far. Mr Fix-It strikes once again.
Other attendees included former premier Steve Bracks in conversation with author and journalist George Megalogenis, and Opposition Leader Brad Battin.
Two particularly perseverant campaigners from the Legalise Cannabis party were also in attendance throughout the day, albeit on the front lawn, distributing leaflets and speaking to anyone who would listen.
Ashes to ashes
In Lara, a working-class community on the fringes of Geelong, locals believe they may have finally killed off a monster.
The monster in question is a planned mega incinerator the size of the Melbourne Cricket Ground. It will be the tallest building in Victoria outside of Melbourne, and the first of the Allan government’s controversial (and ominously named) “ring of fire” waste-to-energy projects.
An artist’s impression of the proposed Prospect Hill International waste-to-energy plant in Lara.
The Lara project promised to burn 400,000 tonnes of waste a year, generating 35 megawatts of electricity. But it also left residents, including state and federal MPs, burning. Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles, whose electorate of Corio housed the potential project, lashed it as “utterly inappropriate”, pointing to the lack of community support. Similar criticisms came from state Labor MP Ella George.
It didn’t help that the company behind the project, Prospect Hill International (PHI), has direct links to multibillion-dollar state-owned enterprises controlled by the Chinese Communist Party. PHI’s joint venture partner in China is Jiangsu Power Design Institute, a subsidiary of the China Energy Engineering Corporation (CEEC), a conglomerate directly supervised by Beijing. A subsidiary of state-owned China Everbright group is listed as a technology partner.
Also in the tangled web of parent companies are a few domestic political players. One of PHI’s directors is former Victorian Liberal MP Ken Smith. And last year, former premier Daniel Andrews met the CEEC’s chairman, Lyu Zexiang, where he called the company a “trustworthy partner” that would “give full play to its resources and channel advantages for development in Australia”, according to a statement.
Smith has previously sought to cool off concerns about the project’s foreign backing, telling the ABC: “It all looks very Chinese, but it’s not Chinese – it’s Australian”.
Chinese, Australian, whatever, it looks like the Lara project has finally gone up in smoke. In August, The Age reported that it had failed to get approval because it exceeded the state government’s emissions licence cap.
But a separate planning permit is still sitting before Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny. And a separate development licence granted by the Environmental Protection Agency is being challenged in the Supreme Court by local property developer Richard Bisinella.
Now, CBD hears PHI has given up, and is planning to sell the site it bought for about $3 million five years ago, at a price tag north of $30 million. That is quite the earner for a patch of wasteland out in the boonies.
Locals, at least, will be breathing a sigh of relief.
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