The State Labor Government is deluding itself if it thinks the private sector is confident to invest in NSW following the Rozelle Metro debacle, Shadow Treasurer Mike Baird said today.
“While there was a rise in private sector investment from September to December last year, business confidence in NSW is completely shot to pieces following the shambles of the Rozelle Metro project,” Mr Baird said.
“Any new green shoots the Premier and Treasurer are celebrating have been well and truly scorched by the Rozelle Metro debacle,” he said.
“Businesses were rightly cynical that the State Labor Government would ever deliver on the Rozelle Metro so they demanded a written assurance it would go ahead.
“Even with this written assurance, the project ended up being nothing more than another hollow promise that will now cost taxpayers upwards of $330 million.”
Infrastructure Partnerships Australia said the promising then axing of the Rozelle Metro project “shreds the credibility of the government in delivering projects and will likely make it much harder to attract investment and skills”*.
The Sydney Business Chamber said: “Over a decade the government has released… $100 billion in projects that have never seen the light of day”*.
The Australian Constructors Association president Wal King told the Sydney Morning Herald on 12 February: “If it’s not built the industry is going to have a serious issue with this government”.
“Eric Roozendaal and Kristina Keneally are living in a parallel universe if they think NSW is leading the economic recovery,” Mr Baird said.
“We have the highest unemployment rate in the nation and we have had the lowest business confidence in the country for the past six years.
“Investment in NSW will be undermined while the State Labor Government continues to announce unplanned and unfunded projects that are never delivered,” Mr Baird said.
MEDIA: Lisa Harrington - 0406 726 880
*‘NSW taxpayers hit after CBD Metro project shelved’, The Australian 21-2-10
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