Thursday, 20 February 2025

 Matthew GUY (Bulleen) (17:12): (1021) My adjournment matter tonight is for the Minister for Environment. I ask the minister to require the Environment Protection Authority Victoria to provide real-time updates to air quality at all the locations along the North East Link. At the moment residents in both the City of Manningham and the City of Banyule are provided with intermittent updates, which are quite delayed – some months delayed. Particularly along that construction route you have a number of schools such as Trinity, Marcellin, a number of primary schools and Catholic schools like St Martin of Tours in Rosanna. You have suburbs like Watsonia, Macleod, Yallambie, of course Bulleen on my side of the Yarra River and a lot of residents who live very close to the construction works. They deserve to have accurate up-to-date information about air quality readings that are published online that they can access so that people have clear information where they can make appropriate decisions about what the actual air quality at that construction site is. There really is not any excuse. This material is collated. It is obtained. They should be operating all the time. It is only fair for those residents and for those parents who are sending their children to those schools and for the kids that are using those sporting grounds both on weekends and after school on weekdays that they are provided with that information.

For the many, many Melburnians who use in the north-east the trails in the Banyule Flats on the north side of the river in the City of Banyule and on my side around the City of Manningham and those who are using them around Birrarung Park, do those areas have air quality readings that are safe and that are within range? We know we can find them at the touch of a screen. That material is available. I ask the minister to intervene and require the EPA to find that information, put it on their site and allow all of those residents the available information so that they know whether or not the North East Link construction is meeting the air requirements that they should be required to attain.