A mark of a good government is a willingness to jettison ideological baggage and silly ideas accumulated in opposition.
Although the Bracks Government has shown promise in some areas, it remains strangely unreconstructed in the area of urban road transport.
For decades urban road planning in Melbourne was controlled and contorted by ideologues and interests groups. Planning has been dominated by people who hated cars, freeways and suburbs. Interest groups prevented change and politicians used the transport budget as lolly bag.
As a result the urban transit system in and around Melbourne has until recently has been a logistical mess. All roads converged chaotically into the CBD despite people and jobs moving to the suburbs. There were few expressways and those that existed where short in length and not interconnected.
The Kennett Government changed the urban transport landscape for the better. It instituted a planning process which diluted the influence of interest groups. It put in place a long term road transport plan which included an integrated network of radial and orbital expressways. As part of this plan the Kennett Government converted the South Eastern Arterial into a freeway by the replacing stop lights with overpasses. The Government also expanded the western ring road and commissioned City Link toll road complex.
In opposition the Labor Party opposed virtually all these reforms even when they were clearly in the public interest. They are continuing this short sighted opposition in Government.
They have dropped the commitment to an integrated network of expressways. While continuing with the extension of the Eastern Freeway to Ringwood, they have abandoned the Scoresby Freeway proposal which would links the Frankston industrial belt to the City Link system. They have failed to address the remaining bottle necks in the orbital system including the Hume Freeway from Craigieburn to the Metropolitan Ring Road, Western Freeway from Rockbank to the Metropolitan Ring Road at Deer Park and link between the Eastern Freeway to City Link.
The abandonment of the orbital network is not for lack of money or identified need. The Government is loaded with cash, thanks to Kennett and Co, and is committed to "Linking Victoria". Moreover the urban expressway network could be completed at no cost to the State or to spending in the bush or to spending on public transport. That is by extending the City Link system. But alas the Bracks Government remains wedded to a no toll policy.
The Government's opposition to the network stems from a lack of political will to override noisy interest groups and car haters.
Victoria will suffer from this short sightedness. As an anonymous Treasury official stated in this weeks crikey.com.au, logistics ... "is a major business in these days of electronic B2B commerce and web-based retailing: fulfilment of orders means moving things around in trucks and planes and trains. Those best at this, win. Melbourne's national "hub" function puts it in front now. To stay there, Melbourne must invest. Scoresby is the next key link in the logistics chain".
I hope the Treasurer is listening.
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