The chattering classes of the inner city produce more air pollution over Sydney than heavy vehicles, according to the NSW Roads Minister, Duncan Gay.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
In one of his most strident defences of his government's motorway agenda, Mr Gay used a lunch-time presentation on Tuesday to outline his concerns about what he sees as Sydney's "anti-roads zealots".
"I am increasingly concerned by a local anti-road movement in Sydney and elsewhere which reveres dogma over reality," said Mr Gay who, as minister, is presiding over the development of two major multi-billion dollar motorways in Sydney, the NorthConnex and WestConnex toll-roads.
"They conveniently forget that thousands of commuters each day need to drive to rail and bus stations, ferry wharves, hospitals, schools, shopping centres and sporting grounds," Mr Gay said.
"I'm yet to see a freight train back into a shop in Newtown, or someone hitch a ride on light rail with their newly purchased ... fridge," he said.
"It is one thing to sit in your cafe, sipping your latte, and complain about cars and roads. It's another thing to wonder how the grease trap in that coffee lounge actually gets removed."
Mr Gay's comments, to a Committee for the Economic Development of Australia lunch, reflect sentiments recently voiced by the chief executive of the WestConnex Delivery Authority, Dennis Cliche.
They both, in effect, argued concerns in inner city suburbs about the development of new motorways failed to address the needs of suburban Sydney residents.
This perspective was strongly criticised by the chief executive of advocacy group, the Committee for Sydney, Tim Williams, who argued at a recent forum upgrading public transport services in western Sydney would be a better policy.
Mr Gay has aggressively denounced Dr Williams' criticism, and on Tuesday he continued on the attack.
"If you talk about particulate matter, there is more particulate matter goes into the air over the city of Sydney from the chattering class sitting around their log fire and a glass of chardonnay [talking about] that horrible Duncan Gay - they put more particulate matter into the air of Sydney by a factor of four or five than heavy vehicles ever did."
Some transport academics and urban planners have been strongly critical of the new motorways, and WestConnex in particular.
The Lord Mayor, Clover Moore, has campaigned against it and has commissioned research arguing that the $15 billion toll-road would be of dubious benefit compared to investment in public transport. Mr Gay has called her an "anti-roads idiot".
In Mr Gay's Tuesday presentation, in which he also said he was "determined" to build another freight rail line to Port Botany, the minister said criticisms of the motorway bringing more people into central Sydney missed the point.
He said 89 per cent of commuters already travelled to Sydney's Central Business District used public transport.
"To ignore these facts and say we don't need roads because it is just encouraging people to drive into the city is ignoring the fact of how our city and our state works," Mr Gay said.
"WestConnex will remove large volumes of through traffic off inner city residential streets."
The government has provided little detail on which residential streets would be improved following the construction of the motorway.
