Well goodness wasn't that exciting?
Today a group of about ten of us made our way into Parliament House to attend Question Time for the Legislative Council. (The upper house). Colleen Hartland had promised to ask a question on our behalf - for which we thank her!
The seats were all plush velvet, the mood rather tense and most parliamentarians talked to each other while someone asked a question and then heckled each other during the answer. Some guy kept calling everyone a 'princess'. There were some points of order. It was all rather strange.
But near the end of the session Hartland asked our question and Pakula made quite a lengthy response, which was appreciated. In short, he said he understood our concerns but noted that in projects of this size, private land aquisition is inevitable. (I don't think we've ever disupted that; we're just hoping they will place more value on neighborhoods and communities than on development interests).
As the route through Footscray isn't finalised yet he said it wouldn't be 'improper' for him to 'side' with one street out of the many that will be affected by giving assurances only to us that our houses wouldn't be taken. He thought people in other areas would be upset if he did that, which is quite likely but not necessarily a good argument for not giving any answers at all. We're quite sure everyone along the railway corridor want the same answers we do. In case any of you have doubts, we're for Footscray, not just for ourselves - please get in touch if you'd like to join forces!
He wouldn't give a timeline or a date for announcements on the final route, but did say they were at the 'pointy end' of the project and that there would be an announcement 'within weeks'.
He also noted that the term 'shovel ready' in relation to the RRL referred only to the platforms being built at Southern Cross and not to the whole route.
We also met him on the steps outside after Question Time, where he reiterated his statements and assured us we would be able to meet with the Regional Rail Link team soon.
Also interesting - he quoted a bit of our press release, which we sent out to the media only this morning! We're not quite sure where he found it, but are pleased he's taking note.
More soon...
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