Thursday, 16 October 2025

 Ellen SANDELL (Melbourne) (14:53): (1335) My question is to the Minister for Transport Infrastructure. The state Labor government’s West Gate toll road is about to open and funnel thousands more cars onto the local streets of north and west Melbourne. When the toll road was originally approved the state Labor government promised $100 million for traffic-calming measures and public space upgrades before the road opened, given the huge impact that thousands more cars would likely have on our local streets. Yet now it has been revealed that seven years later only a tiny fraction of that has been spent. To make matters worse, residents recently woke up to learn that the state government is now making a bunch of road changes that are mostly designed to speed up traffic in the area, not make our streets safer, with very little community consultation. Community members feel betrayed by the state Labor government over this issue – the secrecy, the lack of traffic calming and the promised linear park that never happened. Residents are calling for transparency, and my question is: will the minister direct the Department of Transport and Planning to hold a public community meeting with local residents to deal with this issue?