Federal Treasurer Joe Hockey has boasted that his first budget includes “the biggest increase in road expenditure in Australian history”. It promises $80 billion in roads spending over the next six years.
Included is a pledge to double the $1.5 billion already offered for the Victorian government’s East West Link – an $18 billion concrete goliath that will cut a path through the inner suburbs of Melbourne.
This is a massive corporate hand out and will further entrench the fossil fuel industry in the Australian economy. The road’s construction is an exercise in the rampant pursuit of profit.
It threatens to destroy parkland, homes and public amenities that lie in its path.
Yet the government’s own experts have advised that the road will do little to ease congestion. Polls have shown that less than a quarter of Victorians believe that building the road should be a greater priority than improving public transport. 
Any idea that the state or federal governments’ road schemes would be good for workers living in the outer suburbs was shattered with the announcement of a rise in the fuel excise. Workers will now pay for the East West Link on three fronts – through public handouts to corporate contractors, higher petrol prices and tolls.
Equivalent funding on rail infrastructure – commuter and freight – would be far more effective in easing congestion and reducing travel times. The problem is that it would be less profitable to the people that matter to the government.
[Join the next rally: “We want trains not tolls”, Saturday 28 June, 1pm at the State Library of Victoria.]

Thomas Tymms

$18 billion road to nowhere

After announcing last year that test drilling had been completed, the Linking Melbourne Authority (LMA) has now added another string to the tangle of lies that is the East West Link tollway scam by resuming drilling in Melbourne’s inner north.
Since the start of this year, authorities have engaged protesters in a game of cat and mouse, setting up drill sites at unannounced locations in the early hours of the morning. The LMA has ignored requirements to inform nearby residents before setting up their sites because too many were passing information on to our campaign.
This community intelligence has helped picketers arrive on site rapidly and regularly disrupt drilling operations. As a result, the LMA has been pushed weeks behind in its schedule.
A recent Age/Nielsen poll indicated that 74 percent of Victorians favour the improvement of public transport over the construction of a major road network. The campaign is demanding that the government scrap the toll road and instead commit resources to a more effective and environmentally sound rail network.
Red Flag spoke to a number of activists on the picket.
“The number one aim of the campaign has to be to stop the contracts being signed before the next [state] election, because the Labor Party is missing in action. They say if the contract is signed, they’ll build it anyway”, explained Tony, a veteran of a 1977 campaign against the Eastern Freeway extension.
Local resident and retired electrician Keith is one of many who stand to lose their homes to the tollway. He expects a final acquisition notice in April or May. However, he remains positive: “What we’ve got to do is get behind one another. We all stick together. Unity. We can beat this!”
One thing is clear: Liberal Premier “Dodgy” Dennis Napthine is not to be trusted. In championing the East West Link, he is reneging on an election commitment. He claims that the East West Link will relieve traffic congestion, yet a leaked report commission by the LMA has shown that the proposed road will actually increase congestion at key bottlenecks.
The police too have shown characteristic duplicity. On one occasion recently – after expressing concern about protesters’ safety to gathered media – the commanding officer at the picket choked a protester and remarked, “I hope it hurts”, according to the picketer in question, Ash.
Picketers are keen to ensure that police violence doesn’t have the intended effect of scaring off supporters. “People who want to support by [coming to the picket and] standing on the sidelines, that support is really valuable as well … I’d encourage people to come along”, said Tony.
To get involved, SMS “tunnel” to 0432 447 036 for action updates.

Flying pickets delay toll road

The campaign against the Victorian Liberal government’s East West Link toll road scam is continuing.
Several of the seven local councils now opposed to the toll road have held public meetings – some attended by hundreds – to discuss the likely impact of the road and the options for opposing it. Those that stand to benefit from this project are few but include businesses interested only in their own profits.
One of the consortia vying for the construction contract – Momentum Infrastructure Consortium – includes the construction giant Leighton Holdings. Leighton has publicly been linked to a series of scandals including corrupt business dealings and serious human rights violations against farming communities in India.
The history of Leighton and its parent firm is a case study in capitalist depravity. In 2001 Leighton Holdings became part of the construction giant Hochtief. Hochtief owes much of its current success to its historical collaboration with the German Nazi Party. It boasts openly on its website about constructing several building for Hitler, including his “Wolf’s Lair” command centre.
If Leighton secures the construction contract, it can expect to rake in a substantial profit from the deal, which could more accurately be described as a publicly funded rort for private investors.
Tender documents stipulate that the government will underwrite any losses sustained through either industrial disputes or a failure to reap sufficient income from the tolls paid by motorists.
[Rally against the East West Link: Sunday 15 December, 1pm, Smith Reserve on Alexandra Parade (next to Fitzroy Pool).]

Campaign against toll road targets corporate criminals

“Mr. Napthine, I’m not moving! I was born here. I will die here, in Collingwood!”, vowed Keith Fitzgerald, standing in front of a rally of 300. Protesters gathered in Fitzroy on a rainy Sunday morning 13 October to oppose the monstrous $8 billion East-West Link that threatens to scar Melbourne’s inner north.
Keith is one of around 250 residents who have received notice that their homes may be compulsorily acquired to make way for the toll road. He has been at the centre of the fight against the state government’s plans. News footage of Victoria Police knocking the 70-year-old to the ground at a community picket has helped galvanise others.
The campaign scored its first victory when daily picketing forced the Linking Melbourne Authority to halt test drilling. Eight sites had initially been flagged for testing, but to date only four have been worked on.
A diverse assortment – from retirees to high school students – has braved early morning chills and police aggression to disrupt the drilling.
The campaign is demanding that the Victorian ALP, should it win next year’s state election, tear up any contracts entered into by the Napthine Liberal government. So far, while mouthing opposition to the tunnel, it has refused to make any commitment.
The demand is accompanied by a call for the Victorian Trades Hall Council and the union movement to back the campaign. Right now the balance sheet is mixed. The United Firefighters’ Union has given support, whereas construction unions (CFMEU, ETU, AWU) have backed the project, arguing it will create jobs for their members.
But quality union jobs are far from guaranteed. The developers vying for the project (John Holland, Lend Lease) have a history of hostility to workers and their unions. The way to build stronger unions is through a culture of solidarity that extends to all those who stand to suffer from corporate greed. Doing this, unions might in turn receive the broad support that will be needed in their own struggles. The example of the Builders Laborers Federation of the 1970s is one to follow.
As the campaign moves into a new phase targeting the companies short-listed to build the tollway, gaining union support will be crucial. Already there are signs of working class support – the steady stream of truck drivers honking in support of the picketers, or the building workers who refused to give bolt cutters to police trying to break through the campaign picket.
Although it is possible that developers will try to restart test drilling, it seems now that that phase of the campaign is at an end. The next stage is just beginning.

$18 billion road to nowhere

Flying pickets delay toll road

Campaign against toll road targets corporate criminals

Picket kicks an early goal against toll road

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