Tuesday, 20 February 2024

Gippsland rail line duplication

Wayne FARNHAM (Narracan) (19:10): (527) My adjournment this evening is for the Minister for Transport Infrastructure, and the action I seek is that the minister visits the community of Bunyip in my electorate and speak with the residents impacted by the station works being completed there. I brought up this matter of the duplication of the line between Bunyip and Longwarry before with the previous Minister for Transport Infrastructure, and the answer I got on that occasion was about works in Stratford, which is 200 kilometres away from Bunyip. So this time I hope the new minister can actually give me a reason why the duplication of the line has not been completed. This line was federally funded by the Liberal–National federal government to the tune of about $490 million, and I believe the state government put in about $30 million. My community will want to know why this duplication has not been done.

But there is another part to this adjournment. The fact of the matter is that the works that have occurred at the new Bunyip station are impacting the residents there. This is why the minister has to come. I have at least 10 residents there that now get flooded every time heavy rains occur, and the worst part for one poor fellow is that when his house gets flooded it comes down the new driveway, goes straight under his house and the water sits. Now he has got mould in his house, in a bedroom where his daughter sleeps.

The design of the drainage of this new station is not right for the residents, and they are getting washed out every time it rains. So I urge the minister to come down there. I have written him a letter, and I would like the minister to come down and meet with the residents to hear their concerns about all the works that are going on plus the fact that the duplication has not been completed. We have platforms on either side, but we do not have the tracks, so the trains cannot improve their timetables. If the minister could come down, meet with the residents and listen to their concerns about what has been going on, I would really appreciate that.