PM Transcripts

PRIME MINISTER549
STATEMENT BY THE PRIME MINISTER, THE HON P. J. KEATING, MP
John Fahey and his Government have by their decision to retain the Cahill
Expressw . ay the eyesore that mars the most significant precinct in SYdny--
demonstrated again the unfitness of their stewardship of the fortunes of this
great city.
The Harbour Tunnel provides the first and only opportunity to remove the
expressway and get it down before the Olympics.
The Commonwealth Government offered to help with the expressway
Mr Fahey made the decision without further reference to the Commonwealth.
Mr Fahey and his government are without any vision for Sydney and are run by
the various authorities. The authorities are too strong for the Cabinet.
Obviously the State Rail Authority and the Roads and Traffic Authority have
decided this issue for the government.
Money is deciding another great issue for Sydney. The Fahey government
decision to build a casino in P yrmont will destroy the opportunity to return
Pyrmont to the attractive compass of the city.
The hideous proposal for the casino will be a blot on the landscape of the city
and flies in the face of what the Commonwealth Government is seeking to
achieve with the Better Cities Program for Pyrmont. The fine textured
redevelopment of Pyrmont is to be sacrificed to a budget subvention and an
architectural proposal dominated by lowest common denominator guidelines.
Between the activities of the State government in its quest for money and the
Roads and Traffic Authority, Pyrmont is being destroyed.
By the time Sydney gets an Olympic's Chief there will be no opportunity left to
bring Sydney up to the potential of its beauty for the world to see in the year
2000. Sydney is in the hands of a government focused solely on money without the
slightest idea of the vision and sense of grandeur that Sydney now needs.
God help Sydney because John Fahey and his government won't.
CANBERRA 13 July 1994