Thursday, 12 May 2022

Responses

Ms ALLAN (Bendigo East—Leader of the House, Minister for Transport Infrastructure, Minister for the Suburban Rail Loop) (17:25): The member for Murray Plains raised a matter regarding the requirement for the Department of Transport to provide transport clearance for lots 32 and 33 adjacent to the Lake Boga silos. I appreciate his acknowledgement that he raised an issue previously and we fixed it. I can say to the member for Murray Plains that we will certainly be fixing this one for the member for Murray Plains as well, going through all the appropriate processes, because I can appreciate how for local communities the processes that have to be gone through for this sort of thing can be a little bit frustrating and made more frustrating if they are not getting any feedback. So I have already through my office made contact with the department and will press upon them the need to resolve this matter as quickly as we can, because it is all about bringing more people to come and see and visit the area and look at the great silo art that is there in Lake Boga and is no doubt part of the broader silo art trail that is bringing so many visitors into our rural communities and that provides a great boost for those communities. I can assure the member for Murray Plains that, whilst I am advised that this matter is under active consideration, I will impress upon my department the need to ensure that active consideration is accelerated and expedited as quickly as possible.

The member for Box Hill raised a matter regarding the Suburban Rail Loop and the need to relocate the South Africa and China memorial from its current site in Whitehorse Road. It has been a big week for the Suburban Rail Loop. Well, every week is a big week for the Suburban Rail Loop, but this week particularly so, and it was great to see the announcement this week that an incoming federal Labor government would support this project with an initial payment of $2.2 billion towards the project. That is exactly the sort of partnership we need and exactly the sort of approach we need from a federal government. We have battled for a long time on our own—on Metro Tunnel, on level crossings; on so much we have had to do the heavy lifting on our own—and we want to see a great partnership going forward with a federal government. We would have taken funding from either side of Parliament, but at this stage we have only got a commitment from the Labor side. We will see how it goes in a week or so’s time.

In the meantime so much work is going on on the Suburban Rail Loop. It is certainly one of the most planned public transport projects of all time. There has been a comprehensive and extensive consultation process. There is the environment effects statement process, where the public hearings have just come to a conclusion. I want to assure the member for Box Hill that across our project delivery team we have some experience in these matters. With the Metro Tunnel project, a number of years ago we worked closely with the relevant agencies because the Metro Tunnel site was impacting a Boer War memorial down near the Anzac station site. That memorial went into storage as construction continued and will be re-established. I think 120 years ago when these memorials were erected, or sometime around then, they probably did not consider that they were going to be impacted by underground rail tunnels. We will work very closely with the local RSL on what the options are for the permanent re-establishment of this war memorial, recognising it is an important tribute to members in the local community who served in those conflicts and is important for the local community. I really want to thank the member for Box Hill for his really important advocacy and also suggesting—not only raising an issue and a problem but raising a potential solution in that—there are options to relocate the memorial into the Box Hill Gardens. So thank you to the member for Box Hill for his hard work and advocacy for his local community. I will ensure that the Suburban Rail Loop Authority undertakes those very careful consultations with the relevant agencies concerned with this memorial.

The remaining eight speakers raised matters for various ministers, and they will be referred to those ministers for their action and response.

The SPEAKER: The house now stands adjourned.

House adjourned 5.30 pm until Tuesday, 24 May.