East West Link protests chew up 36,000 police hours costing more than $1.5 million

    MARK BUTTLER Chief police reporter
    Herald Sun
    August 09, 2014


EAST West Link protests have consumed 36,000 police hours and left the Victoria force with a ­colossal overtime bill.

Figures obtained by the Sunday Herald Sun under Freedom of Information laws show the ­extraordinary burden on police assigned to maintain order on the $8 billion project.      



The FOI numbers reveal that officers have worked 4852 shifts at East West Link protest sites in Melbourne’s inner north since September 30 last year, at a cost of more than $1.6 million.

There were 3443 shifts worked by constables and senior-constables, who have made up the bulk of the workforce at the sites.

Shift allocations at protest locations for more senior ranks totalled 961 for sergeants, 287 for senior-sergeants, 97 for inspectors, 64 for superintendents and 102 for unsworn officers.

Those officers were already on duty, but there is concern at the huge resources diverted from core crime-fighting duties.

Another 102 unsworn officers shifts were spent on the demonstrations.

Much of the police time was spent doing very little as they waited on standby for trouble.

But they were required in case of incidents such as one last January when protesters formed a human chain to block Alexandra Parade in Clifton Hill.

East West protest’s $1.5m pest control



At one stage, cars travelling at up to 60km/h were forced to swerve to avoid hitting them.

Planning Minister Matthew Guy said he was surprised by the scope of the manpower commitment for East West.

“Every Victorian should be angered by this,” he said.

“I knew they’d be large figures but it’s more than most people would be expecting.”            

Mr Guy said while he respected the right to protest, the East West project was not an ongoing human rights issue but an essential infrastructure project backed by law.

“It rips frontline services from regular police duties protecting Victorian citizens in every suburb and every town,” he said.

“These people (the protesters) are a complete menace.”

Background administration work not included in the FOI figures adds to the hours chewed up by the demonstrations.

There were also 2779 overtime hours authorised for work on East West protests.

That impost came in at up to $200,000, based on the overtime rate for a senior constable.

Police said the large number of police was vital to ensure community safety.

“We believe the number of police deployed was both sufficient and necessary to keep the community and our members safe,” they said in a statement.

Protest organiser Anthony Main described the situation as “political policing” and a waste of resources.      

Mr Main said the Government was determined to ram through an unpopular project, even if that meant huge numbers of officers protecting “a piece of dirt.”    

“It’s outrageous. Of course, it’s a total waste of police resources,” he said.

Mr Main said the low number of charges laid by police indicated protester behaviour had been good.

The Napthine Government now faces the prospect of an expensive legal challenge against East West Link.      

The inner-city councils of Darebin, Yarra and Moreland have backed Supreme Court action against Mr Guy’s approval of the project.

Well said Mason, they should take it to the November state election.    

East West Link traffic consultants not qualified by VicRoads

Date
    August 11, 2014


Traffix Group director Will de Waard said the company did not require the traffic forecasting qualifications.

The consultants used by the Victorian government to help sell the controversial East West Link are not qualified to provide traffic forecasts.      

The report relied on by the Coalition government to claim commuters could save up to an hour in travel each day have been thrown into question by revelations that consultants Traffix Group are not accredited by VicRoads to provide the forecasts.

A spokesperson for Premier Denis Napthine claimed that the research was a “travel time survey, not traffic modelling”.

“They are two completely different things,” spokesman James Copsey said.


The clarification of the Traffix study comes despite Dr Napthine’s press release on August 6 claiming that the “independent study, conducted by leading traffic engineering and transport modelling consultant Traffix Group...illustrates the need to get on with building the East West Link as soon as possible”.

The controversy follows Fairfax Media revelations that the government had tried to bury another report prepared by consulting firm Veitch Lister for the Linking Melbourne Authority last July which showed that motorists faced more, rather than less, congestion.      

The $8 billion project, which links Melbourne’s Eastern Freeway with the Western Ring Road, is shaping up as the key political flashpoint in the lead-up to November’s hotly contested state election. Traffic forecasts for major road infrastructure have been put under increased scrutiny after a $46 million class action was launched in May against consultants Arup over allegedly misleading traffic forecasts for the company that managed Brisbane's Airport Link toll roads, which went into receivership last year.

In order to be registered under the VicRoads scheme, consultants must demonstrate they have the relevant “skills and knowledge to conduct strategic and macro level transport modelling, which includes the ability to model current and future transport demand”, the VicRoads registry states.

Traffix Group director Will de Waard said the company did not require the traffic forecasting qualifications because they had relied on data by engineering firm GHD, as well as AusTraffic, who are also not registered for traffic forecasting.    

“It should be noted this was not a traffic modelling task and as our report clearly states all modelling referred to is documented in the GHD, October 2013 report.”

Traffix said that its principal consultant, Henry Turnbull, who also sits on Planning Panels Victoria, had no involvement in the process or in preparing the report.

“And consequently has not created any conflict in the matter,” Mr de Waard said.

One industry insider said that “the consultants had been engaged to dress up previous government work as an independent verification of the government’s claims”.

VicRoads confirmed that “prequalification is generally a prerequisite for companies undertaking traffic modelling for VicRoads”.

Last year VicRoad’s manager of network modelling and analysis, Douglas Harley, quit after warning the road authority’s strategy and planning head, David Shelton that traffic figures being used to justify the project could not be trusted.    

Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews has blasted the report as being beset by “dodgy traffic modelling” and he doubted anything about the project “stacks up”.    

Shadow treasurer Tim Pallas said that if elected the Labor government would honour the East West Link stage one contracts.

Mr Pallas said the project would proceed not because they had a legal obligation to, as contracts would be signed before the November 29 election, but because Victorians needed to understand that “when the state of Victoria says they’re going to do something, they do”.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/east-west-link-traffic-consultants-not-qualified-by-vicroads-20140810-102fsj.html#ixzz3A1Sw0ZgH

Bam wrote on Aug 10^th, 2014 at 11:17pm:


when does a hand full of loopy's represent the entire state of Victoria?

you don't speak for me or any other Victorian... 

Yes a better response.   That would be voting the Napthine government out at the November state election.