Secret metro documents to be released

Residents and businesses have welcomed Chief Justice Sir Laurence Street’s ruling that privileged documents relating to the now-defunct CBD Metro should be released.

Justice Street ruled that it was in the public interest to make the documents available, after the Greens’ Lee Rhiannon and Liberal Greg Pearce challenged their confidentiality.

Ms Rhiannon said the State Government had unjustly claimed privilege to shield itself from political flak.

“The government has once again tried to use claims of legal professional privilege, public interest immunity and commercial-in-confidence as a shield” she said.

“The CBD Metro project is dead in the water and the public has a legitimate interest in finding out why another significant transport infrastructure project never got off the ground.”

Save Union Square spokesperson Jean Stuart said she believed the documentation would show Sydney Metro had no intention of fulfilling its promise to examine alternative station sites in Pyrmont.

“We will be able to examine the reasons why the consultation process … did not respond to community requests to properly document and cost alternative sites and move the Metro Entrance off historic Union Square,” she said.

“It will be of interest to the community to learn why the Casino, the transport hub of Pyrmont, was not selected for the entrance.”

Jason Blaiklock from Australian Opal Cutters, who would have had to relocate to make way for the Town Hall metro station and square, said the documents would be “an amazing insight into how much Sydney Metro have got to hide”.

“We always suspected that there was a secret deal between Sydney Metro and Council,” he said.

“For [City of] Sydney Council to be a major landholder and to keep the negotiations secret is deplorable, because it suggests that there could have been clearer timelines and clearer outlines given right from the get-go, or even a faster cancellation of the plans if all the information had been disclosed, therefore avoiding so much heartache for the local tenants.

“We look forward to seeing what the truth is.”

City of Sydney Greens Councillor Chris Harris said he wasn’t aware of a secret deal but did say there was a very “softly, softly” approach from the Lord Mayor towards Metro.

“The Lord Mayor and her team were never critical of the Metro deal because they thought it was a way that they could get Town Hall Square delivered quickly,” he said.

Cr Harris said the public had a right to know why the Government spent upwards of $500 million on a project that “never had a chance of surviving from day one”.

“I think Justice Street [has] very wisely has considered that the public interest in finding out what happened is more important than this half-baked phony claim of privilege,” he said.

A City of Sydney spokesperson said Metro had presented an opportunity to realise plans for a Town Hall Square, but flatly denied there being a secret deal.

Meanwhile, a Department of Transport spokesperson said there were no secrets regarding the Pyrmont station location.

“Privilege was not claimed by Sydney Metro over documents relating to station locations,” the spokesperson said.

“[That] documentation, including the assessment of alternative sites, is available on the Transport and Infrastructure website.”