Minister to host discussion on public transport policy

[Thomas J Stamp]

DU would bring all of the things that were agreed it would bring when it was appoved only a few years ago, having gone though all of the public consultations needed, the planning processes required and the political backing it needed. The arguments were presented in great detail and it was generally agreed that it was needed and needed in the short to medium term.

All of those things still exist, and the sticking plaster of the PPT does nothing to negate them. The sidelining of it for a metro project whose USP is that it will stimulate housing development in two corridoors of the GDA is a terrible choice.

I would say, sure, there may be an argument for an either or, but the reality is that when it was all being trashed out DU won the argument. What killed DU wasnt its merits or demerits, it was simply the fact that the government of the day wanted the money to use on the fiscal space int he run up to a general election and "paused" it at the last possible moment using highly spurious reasons.