Wednesday, 2 August 2023

Berwick electorate roads

Brad BATTIN (Berwick) (19:12): (265) I rise to raise an adjournment for the Minister for Roads and Road Safety in relation to Clyde Road, Narre Warren-Cranbourne Road and Thompsons Road in the Berwick electorate, some of the big issues we have in that part of the world. What we have been hearing recently, particularly from the government, is around the intersection of Thompsons Road and Narre Warren-Cranbourne Road, where there are going to be upgrades. They are promising an upgraded intersection, lights et cetera to ensure we can improve safety, and it is something that in our community we would welcome. There you go – it is not often you hear it, but we would welcome that. However, it is a bit sad when we start to speak to some of the government departments, who tell us now that that funding, which everybody was willing to go on the front page of the Berwick Star News and look all excited about, is five years away. Part of that, the government’s argument is, is because of planning – because they need to plan for that intersection. However, we have known that growth is coming to that area ever since one government – the government opposite – took away the green wedge zone in Clyde and turned it all into housing yet had no plan for what they were going to do with Clyde Road, Narre Warren-Cranbourne Road, Thompsons Road, Glismann Road and Linsell Boulevard. You can go through every road down there; they had no plans for what they were going to do.

The action that I call for from the minister is I would like the minister to go for a drive along Narre Warren-Cranbourne Road and Clyde Road during the peak hours of the morning and the afternoon – I do not say they have to do it with me; I am happy for them to do it in the ministerial limousine with their own driver – to see how long it takes them to get from Clyde North into the city. An example is that I trained at the BFT gym in Clyde North, an amazing local business which has wonderful support from our community. To get from the gym, which is just near Thompsons Road, back to the Monash Freeway and into the city took me 1 hour and 23 minutes. The sad part of that trip was it took 35 minutes just to get back to the freeway; that is only a couple of kilometres.

The roads out there at the moment have been neglected for so long. The planning has been so poor. The council and the government have failed to work together. The continuous argument that the developers will be doing their part and the government will not put money in to make sure these roads have continuous upgrades has to end, because the residents out in Clyde North deserve better. Yes, they have got O’Shea Road now, which has helped. However, the road from Clyde North to get onto the Monash Freeway and come into the city is appalling. I am calling on the minister to go and trial those roads during those peak hours, and I am more than happy for them to take the member for Cranbourne, the member for Bass, the member for Narre Warren North and the member for Narre Warren South if at the end of the day it is not just for a photo for the paper but for actual funding to fix our roads.