15-02-2008

Victorian Greens MLC Greg Barber has called the Eddington inquiry into Melbourne's transport links a "$5 million dollar farce" and said that a north-south road tunnel is a foregone conclusion. This is despite an earlier inquiry (the 2003 Northern Central City Corridor Study) concluding that a tunnel could not be justified on either environmental or economic grounds.

"I guess if you ask a stupid question, you get a stupid answer", he said.

Speaking in Parliament on 13 March, Mr Barber went on, "The promoters of this, Mr Brumby and his private sector partners, do not understand the meaning of the word 'sustainability', they do not understand that our neighbourhoods are important to us and they do not understand that air pollution is killing more people in Melbourne than are car accidents. Apparently the only language they do understand is the language of power, votes and ultimately the seats they will lose".

He warned the government to expect an enormous backlash when the tunnel is announced.