‘A big project worthy of a big nation’: Albanese hits back at critics of high-speed rail
Critics say high-speed rail is an expensive distraction and the government should focus elsewhere. Anthony Albanese isn’t having a bar of it.
Anthony Albanese has pushed back at critics of his multibillion-dollar high-speed rail (HSR) project between Sydney and Newcastle, predicting massive economic and jobs benefits as part of what he describes as genuine nation building.
Amid estimates the project will cost more than $90 billion, Albanese, writing exclusively for Capital Brief, says the 194km project will generate $250 billion in economic activity and create 99,000 jobs.
“As a former infrastructure minister I can tell you, the only thing that moves fast in this process is the train,” Albanese writes.
“But we are moving. Eventually so will those trains, stopping only at stations at Newcastle, Lake Macquarie, Central Coast and Sydney Central — with future stations at Parramatta and Western Sydney International [Airport]”.
