Perth Freight Link: Freo council tells premier where to go!
Channel: Green Left
Date: 2015-06-25

The June 24, 2015 Fremantle Council meeting adopted a formal position against the Perth Freight Link. This came after comments by premier Colin Barnett reported on June 21 saying that the council "shouldn't bite the hand that feeds". Barnett was accusing the council of being too critical of the state government.

60-80 people rallied just before the council meeting in opposition to the Perth Freight Link.

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http://www.rethinkthelink.com.au/

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Transcript:

Narrator: On the 21st of June, the Sunday Times published an article in which premier Colin Barnett threatened the City of Fremantle. "Don't bite the hand that feeds you," he said. "They are wanting things out of the state government, then at the same time they are being critical. That's not a good way of [doing] business."

On the 24th of June, the Fremantle Council responded by rejecting Perth Freight Link once again.

Josh Wilson: I think that the premier's comments in the Sunday Times were questionable in the extreme.

Sam Wainwright: It truly is extraordinary to suggest that Fremantle will be blackmailed if it objects either to Perth Freight Link or to the port privatisation.

Josh Wilson: I think that for the premier to suggest that a local government should take a sort of a transactional approach - and I think that the phrase that he used was that for us to be lobbying in relation to the Department of Housing and then making a fuss about Perth Freight Link wasn't very good business - we're not in business!

Jon Strachan: I am very committed to not building more roads because they do cause more congestion. They do not relieve congestion. It is an internationally acknowledged fact in the western world.

Andrew Sullivan: Whether the officers who've been working on this new project in the space of the last couple of months - because that's how old it is - have been telling their political leaders, either in Perth or in Canberra, what the consequences of this road will be is anyone's guess because we don't know. We can't even get any information out of them as to what they're going to do beyond Marmion Street, or what they're going to do on the bridge, what they're going to do to the North Fremantle town centre.

Josh Wilson: The suggestion that we shouldn't "bite the hand that feeds" with its sort of inescapable dog and master metaphor is outrageous.

Sam Wainwright: It was pretty extraordinary the words "don't bite the hand that feeds you". Um, we're waiting to be fed. It's an open secret in Fremantle that Fremantle seems to miss out on the funding for everything. There's money for every bridge that needs fixing, but still not the Fremantle traffic bridge and the list goes on.

Josh Wilson:  Is Freo/Fido meant to lay down on a mat waiting for treats from the Emperor? It's outrageous.

Sam Wainwright: I think probably the strength we should draw from it is that if you resort to that kind of language, it shows you've lost the argument, that you're not confident of having the argument. And it's a very panicked position to take.

Rachel Pemberton: Yeah thanks so much for this work and, yeah now the game is on.

Josh Wilson: Our own commissioned report, which is the only really decent piece of analysis [...] shows there are better alternatives.

Sam Wainwright: This resolution I think is fantastic because it gives strength to those community campaigners who've got a lot more work in front of them. And there's no guarantee that we'll win but with the way it's grown, I'm optimistic that we will.

Brad Pettitt: For me, I think the most powerful thing is that this is a big infrastructural investment and one [for] which I think the evidence shows there are better options.. And that's where I feel like we've got evidence on our side to say that there are better, more sustainable options that are not only going to be better for Fremantle, but ultimately better for the wider region and we need to make sure we get this right. I think it has been really pleasing to see this council show such leadership in this regard, so thanks everybody who has been driving this.

It's been moved and seconded. All those in favour? That's unanimous. Thank you. [Applause]