Wednesday, 17 August 2022

Adjournment

Caulfield electorate cycling infrastructure

Mr SOUTHWICK (Caulfield) (19:00): (6486) My adjournment tonight is for the minister for transport, and the action that I seek is for the government to go back to the drawing board when it comes to pop-up bike lanes, particularly when it is regarding safety and safety issues. I want to bring to the minister’s attention a pop-up bike lane in Westbury Street. This pop-up bike lane is done not on the side of the road but right through the guts of the road. We have a situation where we have already had a number of near misses—people have actually come off their bike as a result of it. What this government have suggested they have tried to do is encourage more people to ride their bikes. It has done quite the opposite in terms of causing safety issues.

On top of that, in Westbury Street the residents have said to me that they now have a Big Brother style camera that is recording people as they come out of their driveway. One of the residents actually said to me that he is concerned that if he even just turns the wrong way out of his street he is going to be pinged with a fine. We do not need these kinds of things. Certainly if this information is being recorded for data, then it should be de-identified and not be a situation where people are being recorded 24/7 as they drive up and down their street into their driveway. It is a real concern. We already have had situations where this government, the Andrews Labor government, have been using data for all kinds of information, and certainly there should be the ability to not have to operate with fear of the government using this sensitive data for a whole range of different purposes.

I ask the minister to reconsider, as part of this action, and to have a look at Westbury Street in terms of its safety. And if we are going to have these pop-up bike lanes—which are important to promote bike riding—we should do it properly. Here is another situation where the government have rushed out, they have tried to do things without proper consultation and they have left the community high and dry. That is why I ask the minister to start with Westbury Street: get it fixed, get it fixed properly and make sure that bike riders are safe when they are on their bikes and also that those residents do not have the Big Brother style camera recording them as they go about their business in their street.