Former transport minister was misled over ‘massive’ safety promise, secret emails reveal

2 weeks ago 4

A senior minister was misled in briefings that ushered in the silent axing of safety upgrades for a major Sydney intersection, triggering a chaotic backflip that protracted delays on a project that has left residents in limbo more than four years after they endorsed the original plan.

A now-abandoned proposal to erase 85 per cent of upgrades to Sydney Park Junction was set in motion in November 2023, after then-transport minister Jo Haylen signed off on plans to “reduce scope” amid warnings that the original project, which included safer pedestrian crossings and cycling links, could no longer be delivered amid “significant cost escalation pressures”.

Jo Haylen revoked her support for plans that would’ve slashed safety upgrades at Sydney Park Junction while she was transport minister. The original plans were promised as a condition of WestConnex.

Haylen revoked her support for the slashed plan in September last year, after it faced significant community backlash following its silent publishing weeks earlier. Transport officials are expected to unveil a new design in the coming weeks, after resisting calls to return to the model approved by residents in 2021.

In a confidential email to Premier Chris Minns’ office in May, Transport conceded that the briefings to Haylen and cabinet colleague John Graham lacked clarity about the cuts that were to follow, and the scale of impact on residents’ safety.

“Transport for NSW indicated to the then-transport minister’s office in November 2023 that there would be some scope changes to the Sydney Park Junction project,” a Transport official wrote to the premier’s office on May 28, after it requested an urgent briefing following a report by this masthead on the junction.

“Transport has conceded this and subsequent briefings may not have been sufficiently clear in setting out the implications of the scope change/descoping, as subsequently expressed by stakeholders.”

An artist’s impression of a new road crossing and connected bike path at Sydney Park Junction, published in March 2022, which are now in jeopardy.

University of NSW urban development research fellow and Erskineville local Christopher Standen said the upgrades must be prioritised, noting that promises have not been progressed while the intersection braces for an influx of road users as increased housing density takes hold.

“I have seen children sprinting and skating across the four busy traffic lanes on Sydney Park Road,” Standen said.

“I hope it doesn’t take a child being killed or seriously injured at this intersection for the NSW government to finally build the crossing it promised.”

New designs are expected to reinstate key safety promises that the inner-city community has called for, though questions remain about the particulars of a plan drafted without public feedback and subject to mounting financial pressures.

Bicycle NSW chief executive Peter McLean said residents deserved certainty on the “very important” upgrades.

“The current infrastructure does not provide appropriate accessibility and connections for vulnerable road users, which is very concerning … these types of intersections pose a massive risk to walkers, riders and the less abled,” McLean said.

“The community needs to have confidence that when the government makes commitments, they are delivered as promised.”

A spokesperson for Roads Minister Jenny Aitchison said Aitchison was “keen to see a positive outcome” delivered for “important urban project”, and that more information would be shared with the community “soon”.

Haylen declined to comment.

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