At the last election, the Coalition made two major promises on infrastructure – that any project worth more than $100 million would be subject to a cost benefit analysis before it was funded and that the “roads of the 21st century” would be under construction within 12 months.

One year later, both promises have been broken.

The Acting Prime Minister, Warren Truss was challenged in Question Time on Thursday to name any project funded by the Coalition that had started construction in the last 12 months. He pointed to five projects, including Melbourne’s East West Link and Sydney’s WestConnex. Unfortunately each of his examples had either been originally funded by the Gillard Government or was still in the planning stage.

When challenged on the claim that construction was underway for the East West Link he bizarrely said ”If you do not believe that there was any equipment on the site, perhaps you did not see the pictures of the protesters tying themselves to the equipment!”

These pictures were taken at protests against geotechnical drilling being done earlier this year as part of the design of the project. The planning process remains incomplete, no contracts have been signed and no construction has started. Work is now unlikely to commence until next year – even if there is a last minute before midnight contract signing before the Victorian caretaker period commences on 4th November. Continue Reading…