WestCONnex Action Group (WAG) welcomes the decision of the NSW Public Accountability Committee Inquiry into the impacts of WestConnex to hold an extra hearing day to recall Roads & Maritime Services (RMS) and the Dept of Planning to explain their earlier evidence.

On 17 April 2018, the NSW Minister for Planning Anthony Roberts approved Stage 3 of WestConnex – the biggest, most expensive transport infrastructure project in the history of Australia.

But it was not until 10 days later, on Friday 27 April, that this approval was made public, with a quiet upload to a government website. Even then, the planning minister, Anthony Roberts, was unavailable for media interviews.

WAG can understand why the Gladys Berejiklian government doesn’t want to front the public to explain its absurd approval of this massive project. As yet, there is no actual engineering plan for Stage 3, just a concept design. And there are persistent doubts that the proposed underground Rozelle Interchange, a crucial part of Stage 3 of WestConnex, can even be built without massive additional cost to the taxpayer.

But that’s not even the worst bit. As we have always argued, WestConnex will not fix the traffic snarls and will make local traffic flows much worse. Air pollution will get worse at schools and childcare centres including Sydney Park Childcare, The Infants Home in Ashfield, St Peters Public School, Erskineville Public School, Camdenville Public School – the list goes on.

Yet the Berejiklian government approved it anyway, ignoring the advice of experts, and putting the health of children at risk. The peer reviews attached to Roberts' approval spell out some of the failings of the WestConnex project.

Professor Paul Torzillo, Executive Clinical Director and Head of Respiratory Medicine at Sydney's Royal Prince Alfred (RPA) hospital, spoke out about the extensive physical, mental and social health impacts of WestCONnex at a recent public meeting in Camperdown. Here's the video along with the transcript of his talk.

The Sydney Motorway Corporation (SMC) is currently in the process of conducting consultation sessions on its Concept Design for the WestCONnex M4-M5 Link. Wendy Bacon went along to the first sessions in Camperdown and Leichhardt, and has provided the following report.

We found this snippet of an interview with leading urban planner Brent Toderian online. In just a few minutes, he explains why building new roads like WestCONnex fail to solve congestion - and what cities and suburbs can do instead.

RESIDENTS have reacted with anger to the latest revelations about the planning of toll road projects in NSW, which show that NSW government has been instructing transport officials to ignore public transport alternatives to strengthen the case for these roads.

On 22 March 2017, WestCONnex Action Group's Pauline Lockie spoke to Amie Bransgrove on RadioActive 2RRR about WestCONnex's shocking safety breaches and construction errors - including botched asbestos removal, road accidents involving defective trucks, cracking houses, roofing flying off part-demolished houses, and more. Have a listen.

On 23 February 2017, WestCONnex Action Group's Pauline Lockie spoke to Col Hesse on Radio Skid Row about WestCONnex's damning Federal audit and shocking safety breaches, and how these "red flags" show how the tollway's being planned on the fly - and at any cost. Have a listen.

WESTCONNEX Action Group (WAG) has slammed the Baird government’s latest changes to the WestCONnex tollway, saying they expose the farcical planning process behind the $17 billion project.