Thursday, 29 August 2024

 David SOUTHWICK (Caulfield) (17:08): (811) The matter that I wish to raise is for the Premier, and the action that I seek from the Premier is to come up with a fund for small businesses and traders that have been affected by level crossing removals. Can I say at the outset that level crossing removals are important. I know that there have been a number that I have supported. I want to also make it very clear that this is not a time for politics. This is something that I hope members of Parliament from all sides get on board with. I say that genuinely because there are still a number of level crossings to go. The member for Mordialloc, who is making some comment there, would be aware of that and would be hoping that the 26 level crossings that will be removed will be done in a way that means traders particularly are properly consulted and properly compensated for any problems arising from these level crossing removals.

We know with the number of level crossings that have already been removed that traders have been more than inconvenienced. A number of them have not been able to survive, and the ones that have survived are certainly in a very different place than when those level crossings were first removed. You would think that after a number of these crossings have been done you would finally be able to come up with a model that would ultimately take into consideration many of those traders and many of the communities in which crossings are being removed. I have asked this of the Premier and not the infrastructure minister because the Premier was the infrastructure minister when a number of these level crossings were removed. This is bigger than just an infrastructure portfolio, because many small businesses are affected.

Glen Huntly traders group’s Jinny Thoms knows, and she has been part of this. After the level crossing removal there, she has seen a huge reduction in trade, and she is trying to come up with strategies to be able to deal with that. I have met with Helen from Ringwood East, who is going through level crossing removals at Ringwood East. She runs the Coffee Apple toy shop and she is the head of the traders group. She has said that if she knew what she now knows, she would probably have closed during the whole process because her business, her trade, has been shot. A lot of businesses have had to close and they are unsure about what the future might mean for them. The simple answer is to ensure that these traders have a financial plan to help support them both through it and afterwards, that there is some kind of additional incentive to get shoppers back, and also so they are not doing this for the first time and ultimately all traders are supported through the process.