By Christine de Kock and Kirsty Ross
YARRAVILLE-based truck action group MTAG will make a submission on the channel deepening project before the cut-off date of 7 May.
Peter Knight, president of the group, said the submission would focus on the urban impact of the project.
He said as yet the State Government had not revealed how it would manage the “five-fold increase of truck traffic over 30 years”, which is expected with the expansion of the Port of Melbourne.
He said management of the increased trucks traffic that is expected to effect the City of Maribyrnong would form part of the Eddington report.
Submissions for the report close on 31 May, after the closing date of the channel deepening project submissions.
Mr Knight argued “how can a decision be made as to the economic benefits of channel deepening if they don’t know how much it will cost to create the transport infrastructure required to deal with the extra freight that will result from the expansion of the port?”
“They should put off a decision until the Eddington report has delivered a finding,” he said.
“It is only fair to residents of inner Western suburbs to have a sense of what the government intends to do to prevent damage to the urban environment, I know there are also issues with the marine environment, in the end we’re the ones that suffer whatever happens.”
Mr Knight put forward his views at the channel-deepening debate last Wednesday morning during an ABC radio forum at Williamstown Sailing Club.
Jon Faine, host of 774 ABC Melbourne’s morning show, opened the show with project opponent Jenny Warfe, president of the community based Blue Wedges Coalition, and Stephen Bradford, CEO of the Port of Melbourne Corporation (PoMC).
PoMC plans to deepen parts of Port Phillip Bay and the Yarra River to expand the Port of Melbourne – Australia’s largest port.
Mr Bradford said deepening was necessary because 25 per cent of container ships arriving at the port are unable to fully load to capacity because it is too shallow.
He argued the recent trial dredge had indicated there would be no long-term significant adverse affects on the environment, much to the jeering and condemnation from the greenies in the audience.
Ms Warfe, who went head-to-head with Mr Bradford, spoke of the adverse environmental and economical affects of the project.
She said the recent Supplementary Environmental Effects Statement, which was commissioned by the PoMC, showed that the cost of the project had been under-estimated as had the environmental damage.
The debate raged from 8.30am to 11am, and included representatives from Victorian Employers Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Victorian Farmer’s Federation, Australian Trucking Association, Shipping Australia, Greater Western Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Maribyrnong Truck Action Group, Port Phillip Ecocentre, and environment professors.
Elio Comello, of the not-for-profit Altona group Habitat Trust, said he was disappointed more attention wasn’t given to the impact on roads of transporting more cargo from the channel.
Since 2001, the State Government has had a target to move 30 per cent of port freight by rail by 2010.
“The effect of deepening the bay without first establishing metropolitan port shuttle rail services between the port and Melbourne’s major industrial precincts is akin to feeding a four lane expressway into a single lane carriageway,” Mr Comello said.
“The Channel Deepening Project should not proceed until short-haul rail is able to be developed as a viable alternative to road transport.”
