NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian says she's absolutely thrilled with the Newcastle Interchange and the progress the light rail project is making.
The Premier is in Newcastle today to present the political outlook for the Hunter at the Property Council's final lunch of the year, and while she was here she also inspected the progress on the $650 million-plus investment the government has made in Revitalising Newcastle.
Since the Revitalising Newcastle program started, the city's population has grown by 4.6 per cent and employment has increased as well, up 9 per cent.
Private investment has jumped too, with the project triggering $2 billion.
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| Revitalising Newcastle's Michael Cassell, Parliamentary Secretary for the Hunter Scot MacDonald, and NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian. |
"I remember people were complaining to me about why are you building the light rail and now people are saying we want an increased network, we want you to further increase the network so I remember at the time getting absolute criticism for announcing the light rail project,"
"I'm glad we stuck to our guns. It's going to be fantastic for Newcastle , but also the broader region. This is all about building for the future."
"I've learnt one thing about Newcastle, there is a minority of people that don't want to see things change because they've got vested interests, the vast majority of people want to see Newcastle move ahead and that's who we're batting for, those people who are invested in the future, invested in giving kids a go here in Newcastle and making sure Newcastle has the opportunity to become an even greater city - it is a great place already to live and work."
The Premier defended the cost of the light rail project after reports today suggested it was double the cost of similar projects across the state.
"There's no point taking down all of the wires from the heavy rail if you weren't going to do this, and I've heard some unfair criticism about the light rail project costing a bit more than other projects, that's because other projects have wire at the top of them like Canberra. We've chosen to make this wireless because we're preparing this for the future," said Premier Berejiklian.
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| Image David Threlfo Twitter. |
