Maroondah Leader: Tolls certain after Libs do backflip

Published by Alex Makin on Tuesday 16th of May, 2006

The Maroondah Leader has reported that tolls are now a certainty on EastLink given that the State Opposition, Victorian Liberal Party has dropped its unsustainable ‘half-tolls’ policy.

Ted Baillieu should be congratulated for scrapping an unsustainable and costly policy:

He said subsidising tolls for the first six years after EastLink opened was a short-term solution to a long-term problem.

“We want to address these issues (of roads and public transport),” Mr Baillieu said. “The reality is we are looking forward.”

The removal of the half-tolls policy provides the Opposition with the opportunity to focus on resolving the public transport issues facing eastern Melbourne and to commit itself to actually funding the many broken public transport promises left by the Bracks Government:

Public Transport Users Association spokesman Alex Makin said the State Government had broken commitments to public transport and the Opposition could provide a “viable alternative” by supporting public transport projects such as upgrading Ringwood railway station and extending bus and tram services.

“With petrol prices continuing to increase it’s widely appreciated that public transport has to improve,” Mr Makin said.

Given that petrol prices are continually increasing the State Opposition must pledge to deliver the public transport promises that were so readily broken by the Bracks Government.

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