Vow to block bridge

Jessica Benton
STATE opposition MPs have vowed to overturn a State Government decision to build a new bridge at Barwon Heads.
Members of the Liberal party and the Greens said the parties would vote in the upper house against State Government’s plan to replace the existing bridge with two separate downstream bridges for cars and pedestrian.
Greens Senator Colleen Hartland addressed a community rally at Barwon Heads on the weekend, telling protesters the party would move a disallowment motion if a planning amendment for the bridge project was tabled in the upper house.
She urged other opposition parties to join forces with the Greens to stop the project.
“We’ll be moving a disallowment motion but we’ll have to all vote together. It would mean we’d need the Nationals, Liberals and DLP on our side.
“It’s not possible to overturn the decision without all of the parties support but I’ve heard that the Liberals don’t support disallowment motions.”
State Liberal Member for Western Victoria David Koch, who lives at Mount Duneed, said he opposed the Government’s plan.
He was encouraging his Liberal colleagues to vote against a “rubber stamp” for the project.
“The planning amendment needs to go through the upper house and requires the Greens and DLP to have it either further reviewed or knocked over. I think it should be further reviewed,” Mr Koch said.
“This is a further indication of how the Brumby Government operates, especially in regional Victoria, and we need to bear in mind that it will work in devious ways to bypass the upper house vote.”
DLP Member for Western Victoria Peter Kavanagh had yet to decide whether he would vote against the amendment.
He planned to speak with other DLP members before deciding how he would vote.
The National party’s leader in the upper house, Peter Hall, was unavailable for comment.
A spokesperson for Planning Minister Justin Madden said the Government’s likely response to a successful disallowment motion was “unclear”
Mr Madden had never been in a similar situation before, the spokesperson said.
However, the spokesperson warned that safety issues meant the Government had to act on the bridge project soon.