Wednesday, 30 October 2024

 Wayne FARNHAM (Narracan) (19:16): (899) My adjournment this evening is for the Minister for Roads and Road Safety, and the action I seek is for the minister to fix the intersection of Hope Street, Bunyip, and the Princes Freeway straightaway. I get increasingly frustrated in this chamber when we bring up adjournment issues and nothing happens, but I get even more frustrated for my constituents when they write letters to ministers and nothing is forthcoming from there. This is an email I received from David White from Bunyip; he wrote to the minister. I will quote this letter for Hansard:

Good afternoon Ms Horne,

Firstly I would like to say thank you for your response to my email in August 2023, your reference CMIN-1-23-4172.

My reason for writing to you again as in that in the correspondence you advised that the DTP inspected the site on 10^th August 2023 and expect to have works completed early 2024. I would just like to let you know that here we are 14 months after my email to you and almost at the end of 2024 and the only thing that has happened at this intersection is a few dabs of yellow paint and nothing more.

I would like to refer you to 3 photos that I have attached which I took last night, the photos do not do justice as to how deep these holes actually are. One you will see is showing that the traffic island is now starting to fall with large chunks of concrete having to get moved by the public. The pot holes while they get filled every few weeks are as bad, if not worse than they have ever been. You now cannot get out of Hope Street in Bunyip onto the Princes Freeway without at least one side of the vehicle having to enter one of these many pot holes. Honestly I find this an absolute disgrace that we pay registration and fuel levies as well as having to pay for to the damage to our tyres and have conditions like this not only locally here but right across the state of Victoria. I always wonder if I was to put my OH&S hat on would I accept something like this if I was in the car park at work, I’m sure you would know what my answer to that would be.

I would ask if you could please contact the DTP again to have some urgent action taken on this intersection.

It is bad enough being an opposition member and not having adjournment matters addressed by ministers of this government, but when they start ignoring local constituents for 18 months about an intersection that is clearly dangerous and falling apart, I think it is absolutely disgraceful. I would like the minister to address this intersection as soon as possible.