THE appointment of Penrith MP Stuart Ayres as Minister for WestCONnex means the Berejiklian government must dissolve the unaccountable Sydney Motorway Corporation, WestCONnex Action Group (WAG) says.

“It is outrageous that WestCONnex, a publicly funded project, has been allowed to dodge transparency and accountability by operating as a private company under the Sydney Motorway Corporation (SMC),” said WAG spokesperson Pauline Lockie.

“Now it’s been given its own Minister, that makes it even more critical for Premier Berejiklian to dissolve the SMC, and bring full transparency to the secretive, destructive and expensive WestCONnex. 

“The SMC was always a sham designed to hide the truth about how our money is being wasted on WestCONnex, and make this toxic tollway immune to freedom of information requests. 

“Now the public money that’s already being wasted on WestCONnex will pile up even more, with taxpayers forced to foot the bill for a Minister’s salary and staff. 

“NSW has more pressing issues to deal with than deflecting well-deserved bad PR on WestCONnex – a tollway that will slug western Sydney families a daily tax for the privilege of driving straight into traffic jams. 

“As our new Premier and one of the SMC’s original shareholders, Gladys Berejiklian should dissolve the secretive SMC immediately, and finally bring full transparency to the publicly funded WestCONnex,” said Ms Lockie.

Media contacts: Pauline Lockie 0414 470 106, Rhea Liebmann 0410 517 343

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