Labor preparing for high speed rail sell-out: Bandt
The Minister for Transport, Anthony Albanese, is preparing to sell out on high speed rail, Greens Deputy Leader Adam Bandt said today. Responding to a speech by Mr Albanese to the Sydney Institute last night, Mr Bandt said the Greens were now the only party committed to the nation building infrastructure of high speed rail.
“Labor is crab-walking away from high speed rail”, Mr Bandt said.
“This is another of many good ideas that Labor can’t fund because it doesn’t have the guts to stand up to the big miners and fix mining tax.”
“Australia and Antarctica are now the only two continents in the world where there is no high speed rail project underway and I worry that if we leave it up to Labor, the penguins are going to beat us to it.”
“The are clear economic and environmental benefits from high speed rail, but all Labor wants to do is raise objections.”
“As these projects are developed, there will always be discussions about the most appropriate route and environmental consequences that have to be weighed up. These are the debates that we're going to have, but they shouldn’t prevent us from getting moving on high speed rail. It is clear Labor has no commitment to real nation building plans for Australia’s future.”
Mr Bandt released a report late last year which identified $48 billion in benefits to the economy from high speed rail.
Download the Greens High Speed Rail Report: http://www.adambandt.com/greens_high_speed_rail_report