Work will halt on the Victorian Government's controversial $6.7 billion West Gate Tunnel after the Coalition and the Greens teamed up on Wednesday to stop the project.
The two parties used their numbers in State Parliament's upper house for a vote cancelling the development approval for the giant building job, provoking accusations of "economic vandalism" from the Andrews government.
An artist's impression of the Footscray Road elevated freeway section of the West Gate Tunnel project.
Photo: Victorian governmentThe move will force nearly all of the project's 800 workers to down tools but the tunnel's builders say they will keep their workforce on site in the expectation that machines will start to move again soon.
Labor says the workers should be back on the job on Thursday morning, with the government intending to simply start the planning process all over again, risking a farcical repeat of the Parliamentary veto as early as this month.
Despite Wednesday's setback, Roads Minister Luke Donnellan said he wanted to have work started again on the project's several sites as early as Thursday.
"We have 800 people there today who have to stop work while we have the Planning Scheme Amendment gazetted again today so we can start work," the minister said.
"We expect to be doing that tomorrow morning."
Mr Donnellan said the Liberals, Nationals and Greens had "misused" their upper house majority to halt the "desperately needed" second river crossing.
The Greens say the tunnel is the "wrong project", one that would flood central Melbourne with traffic and they want the government to focus on public transport.
The Liberals object to the tunnel project because they say it places an unfair burden on CityLink users, who would partially pay for the new river crossing from increased tolls. They also argue the government has no mandate for the $6.7 billion project.
Opposition planning spokesman David Davis said the approval process was denied because the West Gate Tunnel is a "dud project".
He said the government did not take the project to the 2014 election and other road users would face an "escalator of tolls" each year under the current proposal.
"This project is not in the community's interest," he said.
"It is going to smash families that pay tolls."
But Mr Davis said the Opposition would wait to see what the new planning scheme contained before deciding whether it should be revoked again.
Greens MP Sam Hibbins said the West Gate Tunnel was a ‘‘threat to Melbourne’s livability’’.
‘‘We’re opposed to the West Gate Tunnel and if the government is simply going to bowl up the exact same project, well of course we’re going to oppose it,’’ he said.
Mr Hibbins said the government should build its original proposal of West Gate Freeway truck on and off-ramps that had been promised at the last election.
Toll road company Transurban, which has signed contracts to operate the tunnel, told investors on Wednesday afternoon that the government might pursue an ‘‘alternative approval pathway’’ if it failed to get its Planning Amendment Scheme through Parliament.
‘‘After nearly three years of planning, development and public consultation, we have an agreement with the state to build the West Gate Tunnel Project and are committed to providing Melbourne with this desperately needed infrastructure as soon as possible,’’ said Scott Charlton, the company’s chief executive.
'The Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry said Wednesday’s development was ‘‘extremely disappointing’’ and freight industry lobby group the Victorian Transport Association said Wednesday was a ‘‘sad day’’ for Victorians.
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