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What a bullshit allegation by Murdoch’s #CourierFail. They claim @jackietrad personally overruled “all the expert advice” to approve the new @CrossRiverRail station at Boggo Road. This claim is wrong on every level. THREAD
First, they claimed @jackietrad personally “ignored” advice and “forged ahead”. Wrong. It was a cabinet committee. Now the conspiracy theory is that Trad “dictated” to others in her “thrall”. What a joke. Cabinet ministers are no shrinking violets. They made a collective decision
Next they say cabinet defied “all the expert advice”. But ministers regularly receive competing advice: engineers building individual stations can disagree with transport experts looking at the whole system. Cabinet has to weigh the evidence and make a final decision.
It’s a no-brainer the new station would be better placed at Boggo Road because it’s the nexus of three railway lines. Any cheaper alternative would only connect two lines. Folks would be expected to hike backwards between stations to change trains in summer heat or heavy rain.
Why would you spend taxpayers’ money to upgrade the state’s rail network, then make it too difficult for those taxpayers to actually use? The Murdoch-LNP plan would see people just give up, clogging the roads of the Bayside and Southside with cars. It defeats the point.
The cabinet committee’s decision has been judged cost-neutral and on-track to be delivered within budget. @CrossRiverRail infrastructure expenditure is also helping keep Queenslanders employed during the Covid-19 recession, pumping $4m into the state economy each day.
I hope Ross Vasta and @AndrewLamingMP — the Morrison Govt MPs for the Bayside — are reading this. Let them tell their communities that @DebFrecklington’s state LNP wants them to have a longer, more difficult, more expensive daily commute.
The LNP and Murdoch have never understood @CrossRiverRail. This is about fixing major transport bottlenecks and reducing traffic, not a couple of new stations as a band-aid solution. This project will allow more trains and ease congestion throughout SEQ. https://crossriverrail.qld.gov.au/project-benefits/#benefits-for-SEQ
Also, why does the #CourierFail make such a big deal about the approved station being in @jackietrad’s electorate? The alternative — the station not being built, which the Courier thinks should be built — would also be in her seat! For God’s sake!
LNP leader @DebFrecklington is shameless. She’s crying crocodile tears over a hypothetical train station that her party never actually wanted built anyway. http://www.sbs.com.au/news/lnp-to-scrap-cross-river-rail-if-elected
So what’s going on here? The #CourierFail has identified @jackietrad as someone who actually gets stuff done, so they want to run her out of parliament. It speaks volumes that LNP preferences are backing the Green Party, who couldn’t manage their way out of a compost bin. https://twitter.com/brisbanetimes/status/1103928338953981952
