Congratulating the newly elected Federal Labor Government, your correspondent, John Dorahy - a Liberal Wollongong Councillor, wants to "see Maldon-Dombarton Rail Line completion or at least the guaranteed funding for it to restart to a completion date" (sic), (Letters May 24, 2022).
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
According to Wikipedia, following completion of the coal loader at Port Kembla in 1982, in September 1983, the Wran State Labor Government gave the go-ahead for the Maldon to Dombarton line.
However, in June 1988, the incoming (Liberal) Greiner State Government cancelled the project, despite having committed to completing the line in the March 1988 election.
Prior to winning the 2013 election, then Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, indicated that there was unlikely to be any further Federal Government funding and this prediction came true.
So, for the past nine years the Federal Coalition Government has not spent a penny on this major project and your correspondent is asking for a completion date from the newly elected government.
Peter Van der Roo, Wollongong
First world problems
Will Albanese bring tears to the eyes of the QUAD members when he tells his usual sob story about being raised by his poor old single mum in a council house.
James Duley, Horsley
Albo's sprinting not running
Re: Mercury opinion 'Albo to hit the ground running.'
It looks like the new Prime Minister has hit the ground sprinting and not just 'running'.
And he needs to.
This is because there is now real hope now that strong leadership and bipartisan agreement will give us:
- A powerful and well-resourced Federal ICAC, a science-based environmental policy that rightly places Australia in a position of global leadership on developing and commercialising new green technologies
- An Indigenous voice to parliament, a cost-of-living wage increase for the lowest paid works
- Genuine progress on gender-based violence towards woman and girls
- Trust-based re-engagement with the region from the Solomon Islands to Indonesia.
If all this can all be accomplished, it will supercharge national optimism.
But hope comes with a sobering caveat. To quote Basil Fawlty, "It's not the despair; I can stand the despair ... it's the hope".
If these expectations are not met, in full, and quickly, the crisis of confidence in our system of government will erode past the point of no return.
Rob Goodfellow, Wollongong
Tell us what you think by writing a letter to the editor here.