Victoria’s opposition has accused the government of behaving “like a pack of bastards” towards residexjmtzywnts impacted by Melbourne’s controversial North East Link road project.
The project, which will link Melbourne’s northern and eastern suburbs via a major tolled motorway, has drawn criticism from impacted community members.
They have claimed the construction of the road would lead to a loss of green space and an increase in noise pollution.
Despite extensive consultation with the community, Opposition Leader Matthew Guy said he’d sat in the living rooms of residents who had cried over the project.
“The Andrews government has behaved like a pack of bastards to a lot of the residents out there and they couldn’t care less that this is people’s home,” Mr Guy said on Thursday.
“They wake up and find the vegetation, which is 30 years old behind their homes, being moonscaped.
“They have behaved appallingly.”
The project, funded by both the Victorian and Commonwealth governments, is expected to be completed by 2028.
The $11 billion project will connect the Metropolitan Ring Road at Greensborough with the Eastern Freeway at Bulleen, in an effort to slash travel times and take 15,000 trucks off local roads.
Launching a new recruitment drive for the project on Thursday, Premier Daniel Andrews said it would create more than 10,000 jobs.
“It’s about filling that missing link in our road network … something that should have been done 40-50 years ago,” the premier said.
Hundreds of jobs have already been advertised with the government hoping to attract workers in a range of industries including traffic, utility and construction engineers and project managers.
In response to the recruitment drive, Mr Guy said he wanted the government to go on “an honesty drive” and claimed it had failed to properly inform homeowners about the project.
“It’d be nice if the government went on an honesty drive with that project,” he said.
“It’s a nice PR announcement for the premier but how about telling the councils and the residents what is actually going to be built.”
