O'Farrell Govt: More Tunnels and Landgrabs

West Con Action Groups and NOW Public Transport took to the streets of Sydney and Canberra to March in March. Meanwhile our booth with the Save Ashfield Park Group and the Haberfield Association at the Carnival of Cultures signed up 80 more concerned residents before the rain came.

Despite an estimated 100,000 people participating in March in March around the country there was little media coverage. Commentators have said this was because there were too many diffuse issues to encapsulate in a simple story or because journalists don't work on the weekend. An Action Group member sent the following from Mahatma Gandhi which better explains it.

First they ignore you

Then they laugh at you

Then they fight you

Then you win.

More tunnel madness
Described as a 'critical' tunnel, the announcement this week of the go ahead for NorthConnex, a $3bn tunnel and two ventilation stacks designed to link the M1 at Pennant Hills and the M2 at Wahroonga. It will take 50+ properties.

In a related story, it seems the economics of this unsolicited public private partnership (PPP) will only work if trucks are forced to use it at an estimated cost of $20 a trip. Similar noises are being made about forcing trucks to use the planned M4 East tunnel under Parramatta Rd.
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/trucks-to-be-forced-off-roads-20140316-34vn8.html

Why tollways not public transport?
Ross Gittings gets up in his helicopter and looks at the whole tunnel vision thing in an excellent article.  http://www.smh.com.au/comment/think-smart-on-infrastructure-20140318-3503f.html

From being ignored to fighting and winning
Tunnelpicketers and the action groups around the East-West link in Melbourne are no longer being laughed at and are well into the fighting stage. The daily non violent direct action has disrupted and seriously delayed the core sample drilling program forcing the government to push through laws limiting the rights to protest which has in turn sparked greater protest. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/12/victorian-anti-protest-laws-passed-amid-outcry-from-public-gallery

Meanwhile the $8bn scheme is under intense independent public scrutiny. Community dissenters are running a live blog from the Hearings and posting daily summaries. An awesome blog currently featuring the demon diagram Why demon? Only in footy mad Melbourne. Go to the blog for more. http://eastwestlinkblog.com/