Malcolm Turnbull's plan to get everyone to work in half an hour slammed as 'laughable'
Former Labor leader Mark Latham has described Malcolm Turnbull’s ambitious 30-minute transport plan as 'laughable' saying 'you'd have to give everyone a helicopter in Sydney to meet that target'.
The Prime Minister will announce the new plan on Friday, promising that no one in any Australian city will have to commute more than half an hour to get to work.
The new Smart Cities plan aims to reshape investment in train lines, roads and other infrastructure.
The federal government wants to reduce reliance on grants for infrastructure, saying it adds to the nation's deficit and reduces incentives for innovative funding.
"We cannot afford to fund every project of merit from our budget," the policy document states.
Appearing on Sunrise, Mr Latham said the ambitious plans were not possible with the current state of the budget and 'crazy schemes like $50billion submarines' being built by the French in Adelaide.
"The whole idea of 30-minute travelling time in Sydney is laughable, I mean people are rolling around laughing about it, you would have to give everyone a helicopter in Sydney to meet that target of 30 minute travelling time.
"Of course we can't afford helicopters for everyone even if the budget was in surplus, Turnbull needs to get out of Point Piper on Sydney Harbour and go out to Liverpool and Campbelltown and find out about real travelling.
"If you drive your car on the M5 into the city it would take an hour and a half from where I live on the urban fringe just to get to Sydney Airport.
"Malcolm Turnbull is off with the pixies."
Mr Turnbull will commit $50 million to kick off planning and development works on major infrastructure projects - including the controversial Melbourne Metro rail project.
It will come with an innovation financing unit, which will strike deals with the private sector to fund projects.
Former Victorian Premiere Jeff Kennett told Sunrise: "It's possible, but is it going to happen in my lifetime? I suspect not.
"But I mean we will have to see what Malcolm has in store, it's obviously a big plan and it's a lot of infrastructure so I think that is the issue, we will have to wait and see.
"I look forward to the future when I can take 15 minutes off my drive, that's at 6.15am in the morning when there is no traffic.
"You have to have big pictures, we haven't got the detail yet, when we see the detail later today we will have a better idea.
"This is a big call, lets wait and see the detail."
The cities plan aims to make regional and capital cities more liveable, particularly for those people in outer suburbs.
