Thursday, 24 March 2022

Responses

Ms ALLAN (Bendigo East—Leader of the House, Minister for Transport Infrastructure, Minister for the Suburban Rail Loop) (17:25): Before I respond to the member for Mordialloc’s outstanding adjournment contribution on the wonderful work that we are doing on removing level crossings in his community, I actually, on behalf of the Minister for Roads and Road Safety, am able to address the matters raised by the member for Murray Plains and the member for Gippsland South.

I will start with the member for Murray Plains. The member for Murray Plains, as I recall, raised a matter about the bridge in Swan Hill, noting of course that this is a bridge that spans the Murray River and covers the jurisdictions of both Victoria and New South Wales. If I remember correctly, the request from the member to the minister for roads was to meet with him and other councillors from the Swan Hill Rural City Council to discuss the progress of this project. I do have to inform the member that the advice I have is that this is actually a project that is being managed by the New South Wales government, so his request—

Mr Walsh interjected.

Ms ALLAN: very good, very good—for progressing the project is best put to the New South Wales government. For clarity, the Victorian government was very proud to deliver, and it is very close to finishing the delivery of, the Echuca–Moama bridge. Yes, member for Swan Hill, you will get an invite to the opening. I will be looking forward to telling the story of how the Andrews Labor government delivered the Echuca–Moama bridge project, but I do digress. But I will, consistent with the minister’s request, still inform the minister for roads of that request for a cup of tea with the member for Murray Plains and other councillors from the Rural City of Swan Hill. Or we could save you all a trip and do it on Teams, as we have all become very comfortable and familiar with it.

Now, the member for Gippsland South has popped back in, and I am glad he has, because he also did raise a matter for the Minister for Roads and Road Safety. On my advice I directed him that way, but thanks to the hard work of my office and the work of the minister for roads’ office I also have an update for the member for Gippsland South. As I recall, his request was for an update on the planning work that is going on with the Traralgon bypass. We are very proud of some of the work we are doing in the Gippsland community. I was pleased to see the terrific progress on the Princes Highway east. The two final sections of that duplication are powering ahead—

Mr D O’Brien interjected.

Ms ALLAN: three sections. Yes, thank you. It is just as well I have got the local member here to make sure we are being fully accurate. Now, I am advised that the planning work is being undertaken by Regional Roads Victoria and that there is some advice from Regional Roads Victoria that there is to be some further work done on the rehabilitation options for the Loy Yang mine. Further work on that needs to be undertaken and advice on that work—I think in the member’s contribution you did refer to the proximity of potential alignments to the Loy Yang mine and this has been probably one of the issues that I know for some time has vexed the progress of this project, because it does come through some really challenging terrain and there are the obvious environmental and other issues that need to be considered in the delivery of this project. So there is the need to wait and get the advice on the rehabilitation options for the Loy Yang mine that are better understood and assessed and would then intersect with the completion of the planning work for the Traralgon bypass that would then be undertaken by Regional Roads Victoria. So I hope that information is of some use to the member for Gippsland South.

The member for Mordialloc, as he has just concluded his adjournment, has asked for an update on the open space advisory panel that is being implemented as part of the removal of the dangerous and congested level crossings around the Parkdale community. I would like to really commend the member for Mordialloc. He is a fantastic advocate for the removal of level crossings in his community and indeed along the Frankston line. He has been pretty successful. We are removing 20 level crossings on the Frankston line and 16 of them have already been removed. I know from working closely with the member for Mordialloc he also in turn works very, very closely with his local community and gives me regular reports and updates. This has been our experience at the Edithvale, Chelsea and Bonbeach sites, where we removed the level crossings and opened the new stations last year. He is so dedicated to the removal of level crossings that he even popped over the border of the electorate into the member for Sandringham’s electorate in the last term and worked closely with the Cheltenham and Mentone communities.

It was a bit of a shame the member for Sandringham at the time was not doing that work. He had a different view; he was opposing those works, which is consistent with the Liberal opposition’s view on level crossings. But I digress. We are here to talk about the work at Mentone and Parkdale. Now, the advice we have, as I think is well known in the local community, from our expert engineers is that we are removing the level crossings with a rail bridge. We have done this successfully in many different parts of Melbourne. The great outcome of this is that we are creating two MCGs worth of open space in Parkdale. That is a really valuable space that is being created because we are lifting the rail line and then will be able to develop the space in and around what had previously been a rail corridor. That is why we have established an open space panel. I know the member for Mordialloc is involved in the open space panel, looking at all of those wonderful opportunities that come from planting new trees and landscaping and looking at walking, cycling and other recreational opportunities that can be done there. Also I know parking is important for the local community and accessibility to the local shops. This is also a great outcome. Whereas the community here has been divided since the train line went in, lifting the rail line unites the community and makes it so much more accessible and easier to move around the Parkdale community. I am pleased to advise the member that the panel had their first meeting late last month and that there is a lot of work also with engineers and architects that will take on the local views and work through the consultation processes, and the concept designs for feedback, I am advised, will be released in the middle of the year. I look forward to working with the member for Mordialloc again on continuing the removal of dangerous and congested level crossings along the Frankston line and specifically in his local community.

Now, by my count there are seven remaining items that various members have raised for ministers for their attention, and they will be referred to those ministers for their action and response.

The SPEAKER: The house now stands adjourned.

House adjourned 5.32 pm until Tuesday, 5 April.