ICAC investigations into alleged illegal donations from Hunter developers to the Liberal Party is an alarming development with ramifications for major projects in the region.
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Chief of these is the decision to cut Newcastle’s heavy rail line and open the central business district to development.
The Mercury supports calls for a halt to these plans until the ICAC investigation has been concluded and that any possible conflicts of interest are revealed or disproven.
This newspaper has followed the campaign to maintain the direct rail link between Maitland and the city centre closely, but our support for the halt to development and the Greens’ request for the independent corruption watchdog to shine its light on the rail line is motivated entirely by the need for full disclosure and seeing that the best interests of the entire Hunter are protected.
Given the cost of the project and future developments in the CBD, every t must be crossed and every i dotted.
Greens transport spokeswoman Dr Mehreen Faruqi should be commended for raising the issue and it makes sense to adopt Labor’s call for the project’s Boxing Day start date to be postponed.
Transport Minister and Minister for the Hunter Gladys Berejiklian had a chance to respond and clear the air yesterday.
But she declined to comment.
Maitland residents opposed or in support of the project will sleep better if they know that no developers with vested interests had their fingers in the pie, even if the line is cut in the end.
This is a chance for the government to put its cards on the table in the interest of transparency, so we can all be sure who really made one of the Hunter’s most important infrastructure decisions in years.
