Back to one of our favourite NIMBY parables of recent times: Labor MP Mike Kelly's vehement opposition to a new road that will, perchance, run past his house.
Queanbeyan Council has been trying to build the damned thing since Gough Whitlam was prime minister, the corridor set aside in 1974 so commuter traffic could be diverted from Queanbeyan's main commercial drag. Former NSW premier Bob Carr was elected in 1995 promising to build it and Mike Baird spent $4 million on planning approval.
To be fair, Dr Kelly (for a doctor he is, Gerard) has always been upfront about his personal interest in the project, the Ellerton Drive Extension. And what an interest it is. The pristine panorama currently enjoyed through his window should soon enough be a dual-carriage thoroughfare for Lindsay Fox's fleet, a prime viewing platform for the dystopian traffic bridge over a desiccated riverbed we doubt David Attenborough has on his bucket list. There's no question that Darryl Kerrigan would marvel at the serenity; the only question is whether he'd prefer it now or after the steel beams and cable stays went up.
The Member for Eden-Monaro's wife, Rachelle, has now unleashed on Facebook, describing the approval process as "disgraceful" and "secretive vandalism" and her fellow residents as "uninformed and unconsulted". At 43 years, the consultation process does seem expeditious, hasty even! Said nobody, ever.
Baird's merger of Queanbeyan and neighbouring Palarang councils is Kelly's particular beef – or at least the couple's latest. But residents of the old Palarang live nowhere near the new road. They'll be lucky to hear the faintest drone of Kerry Stokes' Caterpillars in the southerly breeze as they tear up Dr and Mrs Kelly's beloved hydrangeas. And Queanbeyan ratepayers, whose Main Street will no longer be overrun by lorries blowing gravel off their trailers. It's a travesty!
In our humble opinion, the Kellys are failing to appreciate the silver lining here: his much-truncated daily commute to Parliament, on whose paradisiacal little ring road you'll never be passed by a Fox…
