Thursday, 28 October 2021

 Ms ALLAN (Bendigo East—Leader of the House, Minister for Transport Infrastructure, Minister for the Suburban Rail Loop) (14:06): Fifty years ago Victorians first saw a dotted line on a Melway map marking the future road connection from Melbourne’s east to north. Well, today that dotted line is a reality, and I was so pleased to announce with the Premier the $11.1 billion tunnelling contract for the North East Link Project. This is a project that has been talked about for decades, and it is becoming a reality because it is only the Andrews Labor government that delivers on its commitments—each and every one of its commitments—to build better transport connections for Victorians.

Now, consider—and I know you consider this a lot and you are aware of some of these details, Speaker—the North East Link Project will take 15 000 trucks off local roads, giving those local roads back to those local communities, slash 35 minutes of travel time between the north and the west of the city, create 34 kilometres of walking and cycling connections, build Melbourne’s first dedicated busway, supporting a bus every minute in the peak period, add six lanes to the Eastern Freeway, upgrade the M80 ring-road, support 50 MCGs worth of new and revitalised open space in a part of Melbourne that certainly loves its environment and its open space and, most critically, support 10 000 jobs—8000 in the package that we announced today—for both the construction industry and small business.

As I said, only the Andrews Labor government delivers these sorts of projects that will mean, for example, a tradie will be able to get more easily from Bundoora to Doncaster for work and a young student from Glen Waverley will more easily be able to access opportunities at La Trobe University. Of course it is not just a road project; the North East Link is the biggest ever investment in the northern and eastern suburbs of Melbourne by any Victorian government. On this project, it is a road project but it is a community investment that will take trucks off local roads, support better transport connections and support thousands of construction jobs along the way.