O’Shea Road, Berwick
Mr BATTIN (Gembrook) (09:42): This week the Andrews Labor government came out to celebrate the opening of a new road, O’Shea Road down in Berwick. However, the road is still only about three-quarters complete. The lights are not on; the road is not completed; it is not open. The second lane is not available to be used yet, and there were people walking on the road rather than being able to drive on it. And the disappointing part is we have been asking the government to come out for such a long period of time to meet Jay, Mick Suttie, Dale Purton, Ray Micallef, Jarrod Lawrenson and John Organ—and the list goes on—people that have raised genuine concerns around the construction of this road, including a sewerage stack at the back of someone’s house. When these people asked why they were not consulted on it, the government said, ‘You were’, but they were not. Then when they got a document through, it said, ‘If you are building a two-storey property next to this sewerage stack, make sure you don’t have any windows at the back of the property’. That is a bit late with a double-storey house that is already 12 years old with windows at the back of the property. There are houses along the edge of O’Shea Road where they asked the engineers what it will be like with the amount of lights that have been put along O’Shea Road, and the response from the engineers was, ‘The good thing is your backyard will be lit up like the MCG every night’. These are things that the community was concerned about. They appreciate the fact that a road is getting done, but there was zero consultation, and the impact on their lives is going to be horrific.