Napthine goes off Geelong and onto Hastings

Yesterday Dr. Napthine was all over Hastings.

March 2013

See: http://www.frankstonweekly.com.au/story/1406932/port-of-hastings-development-premier-unveils-110m-kickstart/?cs=1449

This is the same Dr. Napthine who said, when we visited him as then Opposition spokesperson for Ports, that Westernport was a silly idea and that Geelong would be the logical place for further port expansion. When in government, then Ports Minister Tim Pallas launched the Port of Hastings Land Use and Transport plan (PoHLUTS) - championing Westernport expansion. We heard him talk enthusiastically about how Labour’s plan for port expansion would ensure the future was bright for Westernport. We seem to recall him saying there was no Plan B – i.e. no question, Hastings was going to happen.

Now in Opposition, Mr. Pallas and his Labour cohorts say it’s a silly idea (never mind they spent $millions of taxpayer funds on the PoHLUTS). They are now talking up Bay West near Werribee for the next new port. Our elected representatives just seem to parrot whatever the current business heavy weights want them to, then beetle off to spend taxpayer $millions exploring how to do over the environment whilst delivering some smoothly worded media packages. It’s almost (but not) amusing to see the same old rhetoric used for Channel Deepening in PPBay being dusted off again to justify the Westernport proposal. Container projections, jobs for our kids, need to protect the vibrant economy etc. It’s a cut and paste job.



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