It may have been a slip of the tongue, but outer South Western Sydney motorists would have agreed with NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian when she described the opening of new motorways as “toll mania’’.
She was talking to the media during an inspection of the nine kilometre long M8 twin tunnels, which are part of the giant WestConnex project and will open to traffic this weekend.
The M8 tunnels run alongside the M5 East tunnels, doubling the capacity on offer to motorists heading into Sydney.
The premier corrected herself quickly, saying she meant “motorway mania’’, but it’s the first description motorists will remember when they fork out $6.95 each way on the M5 East.
M5 East has always been free since it was built and opened in 2001.
Furthermore, critics of the toll say M5 East is not being upgraded – so this is just a case of a big new toll on the same old road, which will cost some regular users more than $3,300 a year.
“The Liberal Government will soon slug motorists with a new toll on an old road, which is nothing short of highway robbery,” says Labor’s Macquarie Fields MP Anoulack Chanthivong.
“The new toll is unfair and completely unacceptable, particularly given the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Since it was opened by a Labor Government in 2001, the M5 East has always been free – but now the NSW Liberal Government wants to make us pay $6.95 each way.
“We aren’t even getting any upgrades on the M5 East and it won’t be eligible for the M5 cashback. This is just a big new toll on the same old road.
“The Liberal Government’s cash grab will hit household budgets hard at a time when they are already stretched to the maximum.
“The people of south west Sydney want and deserve a fair go,” Mr Chanthivong said.
A petition will soon hit mailboxes in his Macquarie Fields electorate that will send a strong message to the NSW Government: South Western Sydney says “no’’ to an unfair new toll on the M5 East.
