JANUARY 22, 2020 \ STARWEEKLY.COM.AU
NEWS + SPORT + PROPERTY GUIDE
Celebrating Australia Day Australia Day celebrations roar into life this Sunday with a series of events kicking off with the annual Australia Day Breakfast at Williamstown Town Hall. Now in its 20th year, the annual breakfast begins at 8am and is presented by the Lions Club of Altona in conjunction with Hobsons Bay Council. Entertainment will include live music, a talk by Australia Day Ambassador David Mann and a short address by Junior Australia Day Ambassador and Seabrook local Phoebe Hogarth about her experiences volunteering in Vanuatu. Hobsons Bay will welcome its newest Australians with a citizenship ceremony at the town hall from 10am. Maribyrnong Council will hold its own citizenship ceremonies at Footscray Town Hall from 10.30am and 11.30am, followed by a sausage sizzle and petting zoo with Australian mammals, reptiles and birds. Hobsons Bay Men’s Shed’s annual car show will be held at Altona’s Apex Park from 10am to 2.30pm, while Altona Sports Club will have an all-ages free outdoor concert from noon starring Aussie DC – The Australian AC/DC Show. Bella, 14, prepares for Australia Day with a helping hand from Newport face painter Gypsy Janine (www.gypsyjanine.com.au). (Damjan Janevski) 203138_01
Benjamin Millar
Truck deal breaks down By Benjamin Millar
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Government has reneged on key details – they have blown it - Martin Wurt
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other routes have stricter bans enforced when the West Gate Tunnel toll road is completed. MTAG has now resigned from the partnership in frustration at the lack of progress on the curfew matter. President Martin Wurt said the agreement between the community and industry – former adversaries – had been a groundbreaking moment. “However, government has reneged on key details – they have blown it,” he said.
“These curfews were crucial to the cleaner freight zone and without them, plans to incentivise cleaner trucks will fail and in fact make the situation worse for thousands of residents. “Not only would the old trucks just use these two streets, having a detrimental impact on those residents, there would also be an increased risk of trucks crashing into the Napier Street Bridge. This is absolutely unacceptable.” VTA chief executive Peter Anderson expressed disappointment that the partnership would not be going ahead despite the significant time and resources that had been dedicated to it. The state government was contacted for comment.
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An Australian-first partnership between inner-west residents, the freight industry and state government has been scuttled even before getting off the ground amid claims of broken promises and inaction. The ‘Smart Freight Partnership’ was announced with great fanfare last July as a breakthrough deal that would reduce travelling speeds on inner-west roads and reward the use of new, cleaner trucks. The result of 18 months of negotiation between Maribyrnong Truck Action Group (MTAG) and the Victorian Transport Association (VTA), the plan involved establishing an ‘Environmental
Freight Zone’ with two-tiered curfews that gave cleaner trucks improved access to five key freight routes through Footscray and Yarraville. The state government announced last July that it would begin implementing the changes, however it caused friction by leaving Williamstown Road and Buckley Street out of the announcement of new night-time curfews. Save Willy Rd president Dr Kate Lycett said at the time that the government had broken its promise and overlooked “the most important components of the initiative”. Williamstown Road residents have been campaigning for curfews and truck bans to deal with the massive spike in freight traffic once
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