On 23 January 2017, Gladys Berejiklian was sworn in as the new Premier of NSW. We immediately wrote to her to request an urgent meeting to discuss WestCONnex, and our call for halt to and full review of the project. Here's a copy of our letter.

23 January 2017

Dear Premier,

We wish to invite you to meet with key representatives from the WestConnex Action Group (WAG) to discuss why we are calling on your government to halt work on WestConnex and conduct an immediate review into the project.

As you may know, WAG is a community group made up of residents from across western, inner and south-west Sydney. We are not affiliated with any political party. 

WAG was part of the delegation that met with former Premier Mike Baird in December to discuss WestConnex. During this meeting, we presented him with a copy of the Open Letter that has now been signed by almost 4,000 residents, as well as community groups, business and environmental organisations, and cross-partisan politicians. This Open Letter can be viewed on our website at westconnexactiongroup.org.au/sign_the_open_letter_on_westconnex 

In short, it calls on your government to halt the construction of the St Peters Interchange and all associated works due to the significant changes made to the M4-M5 Link, and to provide updated traffic, air quality, financial and environmental studies for Stage 2 of WestConnex. 

The Open Letter also calls on your government to finally bring real transparency and accountability to WestConnex by conducting a full review of the entire project.

As the new Premier of NSW, we ask you to act on this Open Letter with the urgency it deserves, given the enormous amount of taxpayer money and community destruction at stake.

We also urge you to respond to this meeting request in the interest of establishing a genuine dialogue with the communities that are paying the highest price for this project. The widespread media coverage WestConnex received following Mr Baird’s resignation showed that his failure to listen to community concerns played a significant role in his declining popularity. As our new Premier, we hope you will rectify this.

We look forward to your response.  

Yours sincerely,

Kathryn Calman and Pauline Lockie

WestConnex Action Group