News arose last week that another ambitious plan is being put forward to connect the two great cities of Sydney & Melbourne via high speed rail. We know this is usually news that makes headlines pre-state or federal election time, and seeing as Baird is a couple of years off being kicked out of office, we thought we’d have a look further into it.
Ambitious as it may be, this private consortium has a revolutionary and borderline unbelievable plan of paying for the $200 billion cost, conceived by some of the sharpest / shiftiest of minds around. It involves a merky scheme of pulling money from developers who buy up land for cheap in the newly created cities along the line, and resell it at a significant profit. Enter the man who knows a thing or two about merky schemes and dodgy dealings with developers: Mr Barry O’Farrell, who has been named on the advisory board of the Consolidated Land and Rail Australia project (CLARA).
Mr O’Farrell’s questionably unjustified introduction of the lockout laws in 2014, before his departure from politics, conveniently had the effect of seeing many developers who had only months earlier purchased property in the area, see windfall gains of between 25 – 50% on their investments.
One would assume that someone who disgracefully stepped down from the highest NSW office [as a result of what has been argued to be a fear of what else might be uncovered if he didn’t] is not the best person to put on an advisory board for an interstate, $200 billion project, in fear of…more of what he stepped down from *corruption*.
Regardless, the CLARA fella’s claim that the taxpayer won’t need to contribute a cent towards the fee, but in the same breath say they will require ‘support’ from each level of government. The last time I asked for ‘support’ it was from my parents, and it was less of an emotional support and more in the way of paying for my airfares home.
Whether this turns out to be a good old fashion monorail tale, or actually comes off, you’ll know who old mate Baz called along to the party if you see a casino pop up in each of these towns.
Image via FOX
