Wednesday, 15 November 2023

Statements on parliamentary committee reports

Public Accounts and Estimates Committee

Report on the 2023–24 Budget Estimates

Chris CREWTHER (Mornington) (11:11): I rise today to speak on committee reports. I refer in particular to the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee’s 2023–24 budget estimates report of October 2023, and I especially note chapter 6 on the Department of Transport and Planning and want to focus on transport infrastructure investment, or lack thereof, under the budget as it relates to my electorate of Mornington when it comes to road, rail, buses, cycling tracks and more.

First, on the Frankston to Baxter rail extension, this project would electrify and duplicate the line between Frankston and Baxter, with upgraded stations and park-and-ride at Frankston East and Baxter and a new station with large park-and-ride at Langwarrin, just off Peninsula Link. This is such an important project for our region, delivering public transport to so many locals and visitors and for Frankston Hospital and Monash University’s peninsula campus, who predicted up to a 20 per cent growth in students if this rail line was upgraded. It would mean also closer park-and-ride and bus services for everyone on the peninsula, including the Mornington electorate, it would mean one train anywhere between Baxter and the city and it would open the way for the return in the future of passenger rail to Mornington and for electrified rail in the future to places like Somerville, Hastings and the whole Stony Point line. It would also potentially mean that the heritage rail link service can be extended beyond just Moorooduc station to Mornington station and go between Baxter and Mornington stations as well, and I note that it has been included in the past on Infrastructure Australia’s priority list.

In 2016 I had secured up to $3 million for the business case for this project. Federal Labor had also promised $1.5 million for a business case at the time. In 2018 I secured a budget of $225 million from the federal coalition government towards the project, with the state Labor government asked to at least match that. But they did not do so in the past, and they have not done so in this budget either. State Labor are the only ones who have never supported the project, and I note that state Liberals before the last election had committed over $700 million if elected to fully funding and to building the project. But this was not matched, and Labor were re-elected. Again, as I mentioned, it was not included in their budget for 2023 to 2024.

After the budgeted commitment I had secured in 2018 now Prime Minister Albanese went out with the now member for Dunkley Peta Murphy before the 2019 election, saying that an elected Labor government would also match this funding and commit to the project, promising to ensure the project is not only delivered but delivered sooner than the coalition. They went out to Frankston station – and I note the member for Frankston is here with us today – and they plugged their commitment with fliers, trying to win over votes. They did win votes, because they promised to deliver this project, but guess what has happened – it has now been included in the federal government’s 90-day review. Not only have federal Labor put this in their 90-day review, we expect that they will imminently scrap this project altogether. Zoe McKenzie, the member for Flinders, the Liberal members for Eastern Victoria and South-East Metro and I have been advocating not only to keep this project but that, in a worst-case situation, if it is scrapped after the 90-day review, these funds should be kept for our region.

I want to move also to roads in my electorate, Uralla Road and Forest Drive intersections with Nepean Highway in particular. These are also projects that in the past had received federal coalition funding to fully fund and enable the building of them by the state Labor government. We saw delays for years by the state Labor government for these projects until we finally got a commitment to deliver the project in late 2022 and then early 2023 and then mid-2023 and then late 2023. But now it has also been included in the 90-day review, and that has delayed the project even further, as the state government cannot enter contracts even though they were ready to start the project before the 90-day review commenced, which means 2024 at the earliest for these projects. In addition we see decaying roads, with many facing potholes and a lack of repair. One situation is a 40 kilometre-an-hour sign that has been up for months now along Nepean Highway between Balcombe Grammar and Uralla Road in Mount Martha, and locals are asking why this has not been fixed.