Tuesday, 13 August 2019

Ministers statements: level crossing removals

Ms ALLAN (Bendigo East—Leader of the House, Minister for Transport Infrastructure) (14:35): I am delighted to advise the house that it has been business as usual for the government when it comes to removing level crossings over the winter break. We have been busy removing level crossings. And guess what, Speaker? The Opposition has been busy complaining about each and every one of those level crossings.

Speaker, you may recall that 29 level crossings have already been removed. I know the member for Preston is very happy to know that number 30 is about to go at Reservoir. I know the member for Altona is delighted that number 31 is about to be gone for good at Laverton. And the member for Carrum? Numbers 32 and 33 level crossings are about to go at Carrum. We have got tens of thousands of Victorian workers working tens of thousands of hours to get rid of these dangerous and congested deathtraps. And there is more to come, with work proceeding apace on many more of our 75 level crossing sites.

The member for Hawthorn knows about the work that is going on at Toorak Road, one of the most congested and dangerous crossings in the state. At Chelsea—I know the member for Carrum knows this well—we are removing five level crossings as part of one package of work, and that will see not one level crossing between Edithvale and Seaford along the Frankston line.

The Deputy Premier was pretty excited last Monday when I joined him at Mooroolbark station, where we announced that the level crossings at Lilydale and Mooroolbark will be gone—an elevated rail line, new stations and extra car parking, which I know the Minister for Public Transport loves. The local paper did a poll: 81 per cent of the community think it is great. The member for Evelyn has a different view: ‘They’re wrong. They’re wrong. Those level crossings should stay’, according to the member for Evelyn. We are going to get on and remove each and every level crossing that we committed to removing.

Mr Battin: On a point of order, Speaker, during question time I was asked to leave the chamber for a period of 1 hour for questioning how many points of order this side of the house was allowed to actually do, and I was gagged. It is difficult enough in this Parliament when the Andrews government have only sat 25 days since they were elected back in November last year. It is making it very difficult to question the government. I know they do not like to give answers, but if a person on this side questions you in relation to how many times we can do points of order and then gets asked to leave without any warning, which has been quite standard in this place, I am just asking for some direction: what is your ruling as to how many times we can do a point of order? And, two: are you going to be giving warnings to people who are interjecting across the chamber, or is the new policy that you just get thrown out when they question you?

The SPEAKER: When members shout at me in the chair they will be removed from the chamber without warning—

Mr Battin interjected.

The SPEAKER: I will not have members debate me from the chair. The member for Gembrook was asked to leave the chamber because he was shouting at the Chair while I was trying to deal with the ruling for the member for Warrandyte. I will not have members on any side of the house shout at the Chair while I am in the business of ruling.

The other part of the point of order that you raise is in relation to members being able to take points of order. Members can take a point of order at any opportunity that they wish, but there is a very clear ruling in Rulings from the Chair on procedures for raising points of order—that is, that members should not take points of order to deliberately disrupt the proceedings of the house. I was warning the member for Warrandyte that consistently raising points of order that are not points of order I would consider to be disrupting the proceedings of the house. After the member for Gembrook left the chamber, I allowed the member for Warrandyte to raise another point of order, which I ruled on. I consider the matter closed.

Mr Wakeling: On a point of order, I would just like to draw your attention to outstanding matters 479, 481, 732 and 766, which still remain unanswered, with some dating back to 30 May.

The SPEAKER: I will follow those matters up and come back to the member.