NSW Labor has raised the stakes in the fight over the proposed Great Western Highway tunnel by saying the only way the Coalition could have paid for it would have been by privatising state assets.
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Opposition Leader Chris Minns made the comment at a regional roads announcement in Goulburn today.
In another part of the state, though, Minister for Regional Transport and Roads Sam Farraway was telling reporters that the plan for the multi-billion-dollar highway tunnel from the beginning was for it to be funded in a 20-80 split between the state and Commonwealth.
This, he said, was how the Pacific Highway duplication had been funded.
Mr Minns has faced a backlash in the bush - including from Bathurst mayor Robert Taylor and Forbes mayor Phyllis Miller - since he announced in a speech on Thursday that NSW Labor, if elected, would redirect $1.1 billion in the state budget that had been earmarked for the highway tunnel.
He said NSW Labor was not convinced that the NSW Government had "properly completed its planning" for the 11-kilometre "unfunded tunnel" from Little Hartley to Blackheath.
"This could be an $8 to $11 billion tunnel," he told the Future Western Sydney event.
"It has no business case. And it only has $1.1 billion allocated to it in the budget. And let's be clear, that does not buy you an 11km tunnel under the Blue Mountains.
"The remaining $10 billion cannot be found. It's not in the budget - and is completely unfunded. That $1.1 billion is far better spent on local roads across western Sydney and regional NSW."
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Speaking at Goulburn on Friday, where NSW Labor was announcing $670 million in emergency funding for regional roads, Mr Minns said he wanted to "make a point about the NSW Nationals' commitment to the tunnel underneath the Blue Mountains".
"Now, that's a 13 or 14 kilometre tunnel, they've allocated $1.2 billion to it, we estimate the cost is $10 billion. That's a massive shortfall," he said.
"So if [Member for Bathurst and Deputy Premier] Paul Toole's got the integrity to explain how he's going to fill his budget black hole, his infrastructure black hole, in my view, the only way they can build that tunnel under the Blue Mountains is if they privatise Essential Energy.
"If they're going to bring forward that project, if they're insisting that Labor's cancelling it, and they've only allocated $1.2 billion, but in fact, the project costs $10 [billion], that missing $8 to $9 billion can only come from the sale of our electricity assets.
"And if that's their plan for the people of regional NSW, then they should be upfront about it.
"Sale of assets has been the modus operandi of the government for the last 12 years. They've believed in it, they've forcefully advocated on behalf of it and now we're all expected to believe after 12 years of doing the same thing over and over again, minutes before people go and vote, they've miraculously changed their minds."
At Forbes earlier in the day, Minister for Regional Transport and Roads Mr Farraway was questioned by reporters about Mr Minns' announcement on the $1.1 billion for the tunnel.
In answer to the NSW Labor leader describing the tunnel as unfunded and lacking a business case, Mr Farraway said the plan from the start had been for a 20-80 funding split between the state and the Commonwealth.
He said that was "the same way we are building the Muswellbrook and Singleton bypasses" and "the same way we built the Pacific Highway".
He said the NSW Government had its money budgeted for its 20 per cent contribution.
He offered a simple "no" when asked if the NSW Coalition had planned to fund the proposed tunnel using the proceeds of privatised assets.
Mr Farraway also said the plan from the beginning had been to start with the "road surface" duplication for the highway - the sections that do not include the central tunnel - before moving on to the tunnel itself.
He said that would allow tunnel boring machines such as those currently at work in Sydney on new Metro rail lines to move on to the Great Western Highway project.
