Thursday, 16 November 2023

Ministers statements: Mulgrave infrastructure projects

Danny PEARSON (Essendon – Minister for Transport Infrastructure, Minister for the Suburban Rail Loop, Assistant Treasurer, Minister for WorkSafe and the TAC) (14:29): I rise to update the house on the massive benefits the Allan Labor government is delivering for people in Melbourne’s south-east and in particular to the people of Mulgrave. In 2018 we finished the work to remove nine level crossings on the Cranbourne–Pakenham line, which has benefited the member for Cranbourne, the members for Pakenham and Oakleigh as well as the member for Narre Warren South and their communities. Boom gates were down for 82 minutes on the line and now traffic flows freely on key routes like Corrigan Road, which is of benefit to the Minister for Government Services, and Clayton Road. Locals are enjoying a new station at Noble Park and 11 MCGs of new parkland and community open space beneath the elevated rail.

But it does not stop there. The new Metro Tunnel means that we will be able to run more trains more often on the Cranbourne–Pakenham line when the tunnel opens in 2025. On roads, the Monash Freeway upgrade was completed in 2022, adding 66 kilometres of new lanes on one of our busiest freeways. These projects are an absolute game changer in getting you where you need to go in the south-east.

But we know that the best is yet to come. Work is already underway on the Suburban Rail Loop at Clayton, and we are not far off from starting at the site of the new Monash station, which the Minister for Environment cannot wait for, and it is just a 5-minute trip for many in Mulgrave. When it opens it will connect this dynamic part of our city to every major metro line and key locations right across our city. So this weekend the people in Mulgrave will have a distinct choice between a government that does things that matter, delivers on its promise and has a vision for the future and an opposition that has barely delivered a transport project in living memory.