NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet has ruled out privatising the Sydney Harbour Bridge after the idea was raised on Friday morning.
Deputy Labor leader Prue Car raised the concern on Friday morning after it was revealed the NSW government was “considering all options” when it comes to new tolls on the iconic bridge despite it being paid off in 1988.
Members of the government warn that construction of the multibillion-dollar Western Harbour Tunnel will not be financially viable unless tolls on the iconic bridge are raised.
Ms Car said the government has been “all over the place” about what is due to happen with the potential tolls and wants Mr Perrottet to rule out “signing it over to a private monopoly”.
“He just couldn’t flat out answer the question, and people hate when that happens in parliament,” Ms Car told 2GB’s Ben Fordham.
Ms Car said Sydney residents would be worried if the Harbour Bridge was privatised.
“I think people are really concerned about the toll roads everywhere, you basically can’t get anywhere now without having to cop a journey on a toll road,” she said.
“We are the most tolled city on the face of the earth, I think we have more square kilometres of toll roads than anywhere in the world.”
The Premier called into the radio station to quickly shut down the idea of privatising the road, saying the suggestion was ridiculous.
“We are not privatising the Harbour Bridge. That’s absurd,” he said.
“This is an absurd scare campaign from Labor.”
The Premier slammed Labor for even putting forward the idea.
“The problem with the Labor Party is they are continuing to run scare campaigns as we move through building the road network to take our state forward,” Mr Perrottet said.
