Sunday, June 24, 2012

Barry O'Farrell's Second Crossing


The construction of a second airport for Sydney has been a contentious issue for many years. The present airport has been at capacity and beyond for a considerable period of time and an additional airport is desperately required. Because of the potential loss of votes in an electorate where such a facility would be established, the politically conservative Premier of New South Wales, Barry O’Farrell, recently proposed that Sydney’s second airport be located in Canberra, the capital city of the Australian Capital Territory, to be linked to Sydney via a Very Fast Train (VFT) service. If approved, not only will the new airport not be in Sydney, it won’t even be in New South Wales. It will be hundreds of kilometers away, in Canberra! And the VFT will cost gazillions of dollars to construct – if it ever is. It’s yet another exercise in cynicism from the rightist O’Farrell government. All that concerns them is winning electoral seats in Sydney’s south-west and north-west, where the more sane proposals for construction of the second airport are located. Which brings me to this cartoon. I couldn’t help but wonder, when Premier O’Farrell recently proposed a new harbour crossing for Sydney, if he is intending that it too be located in Canberra!



Thursday, June 7, 2012