More Port expansion - again!
Just when you thought it was safe to put away your red gear.......
..... and Save the Bay placards, the Baillieu government has introduced legislation to decouple the Port of Melbourne and Port of Hastings Corporations (who were only betrothed to one another in the dying days of the Brumby government). Now the two state owned Corporations will be torn asunder again so that Mr. Baillieu and his cohorts can waffle on about increased competition between the two ports being good for all Victorians.
Not only that, Ports Minister Denis Napthine has pledged to be much better at port development than his predecessors in the Brumby government, who were he says too slow at getting on with the job. Mr. Napthine says he will “fast track” the “development” of the Port of Hastings. Trade projections relied upon to support this expansion predict that by 2035, Hastings would handle twice the current container throughput of the Port of Melbourne. Even a cursory assessment of the environment around the Port of Melbourne precinct gives you a pretty good idea of what the Baillieu government thinks Hastings should look like in future.
Empty containers piling up at the Port of Melbourne.
Next stop Hastings foreshore.
May 2010 Photo: J. Walker
It does make you wonder though whether any of these planning “visionaries” have heard of Peak Oil and the looming need to move to a carbon constrained economy.
If you want to read more about the legislation see: http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/static/www.legislation.vic.gov.au-bills.html
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