‘Backflip’ on Bay West bid

By John Van Klaveren
A WAR of words has broken out over a proposed new container port for Corio Bay’s northern shore at Pt Wilson.
Ports Minister Denis Napthine accused opposition counterpart Tim Pallas of a “double backflip” over the Bay West proposal.
Mr Napthine said Mr Pallas had turned his back on development of Port of Hastings for a container facility despite supporting it while in government.
“Mr Pallas has walked away from this important development that will secure Victoria’s economic future,” Dr Napthine said.
“Flip-flopping and dithering when it comes to planning for Victoria’s freight capacity is par for the course for Mr Pallas and the previous Labor Government.”
The Independent reported Mr Pallas last week saying industry supported the Bay West proposal.
A Western Transport Study identified Bay West as the best option for a container port because of transport links.
Mr Napthine said Labor had again proven it was “incapable of managing Victoria’s commercial ports”.
“Despite container trade through the Port of Melbourne growing steadily at a rate of six to eight per cent for 17 years, Labor did nothing to address Victoria’s port requirements.
“Hastings is a natural deep-water port in close proximity to the main shipping channels and has an abundance of land that has been zoned for port related purposes for a number of decades.”
In parliament Mr Pallas said industry was “concerned” about the “untested” Port of Hastings plan.
“Given the billions of dollars of taxpayers money Mr Napthine is looking to spend it is reasonable that the government produce a cost-benefit analysis to justify their case,” he said.
“The Victorian Freight and Logistics Council and the Property Council of Australia have now lined up in support of the consideration of a Bay West option.”
Letters, page 19