ANU

The paper was given against the background of claims by both the Victorian Coalition government and the Labor opposition that the contracts for the Wonthaggi desalination plant and the intended contract for the East West Link, once signed, could not be broken due to sovereign risk.

The East West road project was examined and found wanting by Infrastructure Australia. The previous federal Labor government accepted that advice, refused federal money for the project and instead approved $1.5 billion assistance for the Metro Rail tunnel which would have capacity to shift the passenger equivalent of 24 lanes of freeway. The Abbott government, by contrast, rejected the advice of Infrastructure Australia and has promised $3 billion for the East West Link, consistent with the Coalition's federal election commitment to fund roads, not public transport.

Infrastructure Australia staff have circulated a report, Spend more, waste more, Australia’s Roads in 2014, to transport industry experts for comment. The report argued that the existing level of road expenditure was unsustainable and unjustified.

No East West Link business case has been published, because it depends in part on increasing car dependence at the expense of public transport. This, in combination with Planning Minister Matthew Guy's Plan Melbourne, will create gridlock. Guy's plan envisages an extra 1.3 million people by 2020, housed mainly in inner Melbourne (200,000 dwellings) and middle Melbourne (600,000 dwellings), and each household requiring one or two cars, given the absence of concomitant investment in public transport.