Why won’t the government kill the Hoddle St Flyover?
Why did the minister overrule the assessment committee?
The Victorian Planning Minister, Matthew Guy, was given advice by his own panel that the Hoddle Street Flyover should be deleted from the project. Despite this, the minister is pressing on with this destructive infrastructure. Why didn’t he accept the advice of his own advisory panel? To press ahead against the advice when the project (and the government) is already suffering a legitimacy problem would suggest there are some very strong drivers pushing for the flyover. Yet the Linking Melbourne Authority was unable to convince the Assessment Panel that the flyover was even necessary. So what could the drivers be? First we can look at reasons the Minister’s gave for disregarding the advice. The stated reasons for decision covers the flyover at Section 45.
I have rejected the Committee’s finding that the option for a flyover at the eastern end of the Project would be unacceptable for the following reasons: (a) The Project is of such significance to the State, and this interchange so critical to the design, that it is necessary and desirable that the eastern portal and access be resolved sooner rather than later and with this approval.
