Thanks to Greg Barber

The first politician to do anything in Kensington regarding the tunnel was Greg Barber (Greens). He organised a public meeting, and the Greens distributed hundreds (thousands?) of No Road Tunnel green triangles. Many, many residents, regardless of the political allegiances, displayed these on their houses.

Thanks Greg.



And now there's more detail coming out about West Footscray, it's looking like the fight may increase there. And Colleen Hartland and the Greens are still in there fighting.

Labor muscle ready to take on the Greens

BATTLE lines in the Melbourne City Council election are being drawn to shut out the Greens and replace Lord Mayor John So with a new, compliant leader, commentators say.

Labor candidates spread across several tickets have combined with councillors from Cr So's team and his chief of staff, in what some predict will become a bloc designed to keep crucial preferences locked among the incumbents.

Concern about the Greens is warranted: in 2004 they came second to Cr So, who is not running this time.

Cr So's five-member team is renowned for voting as a bloc at council and committee meetings, and has been accused by rivals of being too subservient to the State Government.

Nominations for all 79 Victorian councils close on Tuesday.

Cr So's departure blows the mayoral and council contests wide open.

Independent mayoral candidate Gary Morgan says there are three groups in the field, his team included. There is a strong chance he will give his preferences to the Greens in an effort to get around what he says is a Labor bloc. "I think Labor will spend a lot of money," he said. "I think they're desperate."

ALP insiders admit the Government does not want a Green lord mayor.

Political commentator Nick Economou said a Greens victory would add to the "sense of momentum the party has in the inner city".

"If a Green mayor were to be elected that would be quite an extraordinary achievement and it would probably cause some nervousness in the ALP, because it would be certain indication of decline in support," Dr Economou said.

Monash University's David Dunstan said the election held danger for the Government.

"An articulate and progressive lord mayoral opponent of Brumby's ALP right centrism, prepared to endorse New Age urban and inner-city quality of life ideas, such as Copenhagen bike paths and a voice at the table on the transport and infrastructure debates, could cause him discomfort," he said.

He said the Government had had "a dream run" with the effervescent Cr So and would be looking for another non-political, pro-business lord mayor.

Greens mayoral candidate Adam Bandt believes there is a strategy to keep him out.

"I think there's a concerted effort by the John So and John Brumby forces to field a range of candidates that appear to be independent but in fact are all cut from the same cloth," he said. "What better way to avoid scrutiny of your record than to have the old guard split up before the election, pretend they're all different candidates, hide their affiliations and then regroup afterwards?

No one in Cr So's team is running on the same ticket, but some have teamed up with ALP candidates....

Read the rest of the article, which includes comments about some of the other current candidates, at TheAge.com.au

I, for one, try to not have an overt political bias on this site (apart from opposing the digging up of the park, of course), but keep in mind that currently the City of Melbourne oppose the digging of a tunnel through our park, and that the Labor State Government have brought about that prospect in the first place. If a labor-aligned candidate became Lord Mayor... well... I don't like to think about that. See you tomorrow where we can show them all how passionate we are!

Tollway alternative part of new roads plan

Clay Lucas and Jason Dowling

A NEW tollway would traverse either semi-rural Warrandyte, or run through the heart of Heidelberg, under controversial plans being devised for the State Government's transport strategy.

The Department of Premier and Cabinet is working with VicRoads on the project, which would see a new tollway connect the Metropolitan Ring Road — which finishes in Greensborough — to either the Eastern Freeway or EastLink.

Secrecy surrounds the Government's transport statement, due out in November.

But Government sources have told The Age the transport team is working on economic analysis of three route options for a major new tollway.

The routes are:

• From Greensborough to the Eastern Freeway, running through Heidelberg; or
• From Greensborough to EastLink in Ringwood, with the road running via Eltham and Warrandyte; or
• Sir Rod Eddington's $9 billion road tunnel route from Clifton Hill to Footscray.

Roads Minister Tim Pallas met financiers Babcock and Brown last month to discuss funding possibilities for new tollways.

The State Government has recently polled residents in Eltham and Warrandyte on their support for a new road link, which would traverse some of the city's most environmentally sensitive areas.

And Government emails obtained by The Age show VicRoads is determined to retain land in Greensborough set aside for the ring road connection.

Nillumbik Council, which covers much of the area a new tollway would run through, opposes the project. Cr Greg Johnson said locals would fight a new freeway connection through the area.

As opposition leader in the 1990s, Premier John Brumby ruled out building a freeway along the proposed Nillumbik route.

"The ALP opposes this road on environmental grounds, and because of the enormous disruption it would cause to property owners whose homes would be demolished," Mr Brumby wrote in a 1995 letter.

One roads industry source said there was still an appetite to build major toll roads, despite the turmoil on financial markets.

And ConnectEast director Max Lay, a former senior VicRoads bureaucrat, said big toll road projects were "seen as a safe harbour for long-term investments".

News of the road plan comes as the Greens today launch their new $14 billion transport plan — along with a marketing campaign targeting Mr Brumby's support for new road infrastructure.

Under the Greens' People Plan, detailed in an extensive new website at www.thepeopleplan.org.au, Melbourne's public transport system would be expanded dramatically. The plan includes new train lines to Doncaster, Mernda, Rowville and Melbourne Airport.

There would also be a major new CBD metro system, with new train stations built in the CBD at Kings Way and St Kilda Road, in the inner north at Parkville, Carlton and Fitzroy, and elsewhere.

And in an attack ad devised by South Melbourne ad agency Cyclone, Mr Brumby is portrayed as a mole, tunnelling to create "a profit plan for political survival".

Read the original article at TheAge.com.au

One person's discussion of the Greens' 'The People Plan' is here - http://reubenville.blogspot.com/2008/10/greens-transport-plan.html

John So backflips - article on MakeMelbourneGreen.com

As late as Tuesday, Lord Mayor John So was telling reporters that he supported an East-West freeway.

Twenty-four hours later, with the four members of his team all indicating on the floor of the council chambers that they would uphold the sentiment of the original Planning Committee motion moved by Greens Cr Fraser Brindley to abandon Council’s support for any East-West road tunnel, the Lord Mayor decided to save face.

The public galleries were filled beyond capacity with concerned residents, mostly from North Melbourne and Kensington, all waiting to see which way the Lord Mayor, and their Council, would vote.

The Lord Mayor offered no contribution until the very end of the lengthy debate. With a few quick words about the need to satisfy public demands for sustainable transport options, he voted with 8 of the 9 Councillors to support Cr Brindley’s amended motion.

Only Cr Shanahan, the sole ALP member on council, voted against, arguing that council needed to go further and state that they were “horrified” and “terrified” at the prospect of any East-West tunnel engulfing public spaces. As it was an argument over language, rather than of support for a tunnel, the State Government must now come to terms with the fact that 9 out of 9 Melbourne City Councillors have voted to strongly oppose any East-West road tunnel.

A firm political obstacle now stands in the way of the pro-tunnel State Labor Government…

Greg Barber MLC's presentation at Kensington Community Centre

There's a lot of factual information in this, if you can get beyond the pointing fingers etc.