Wednesday, 1 April 2026

 Danny O’BRIEN (Gippsland South) (19:00): (1619) My adjournment matter this evening is for the Minister for Roads and Road Safety, and the action I seek is for the minister to progress the planning and ultimately construction of the proposed Traralgon bypass. I have directed this to the minister for roads, but I am not entirely sure whether it is the minister for roads or the Minister for Transport Infrastructure; previously it has been the minister for roads, given it is still in the planning stages. But whoever it is for, this is a project that has been hanging around like a bad smell for over 35 years, and it is becoming more and more important. My federal colleague Darren Chester, who is also campaigning for the Traralgon bypass, and I have always said we would get the Traralgon to Sale duplication finished. We had a three-year hiatus when there was no funding from the state Labor government, despite there being federal money on the table, but it is finally done, although I have got issues with the state of the road and how bad it is, despite it being a brand new stretch of road; that is a separate issue. Traralgon to Sale is now done. It is time to get on with the Traralgon bypass, and I know my colleague the member for Morwell is keen as well. Literally at Farm World on the weekend – the member for Narracan and I were both there – I had people come up to me and ask where it is at. People actually do treat it as a bit of a joke now, because it has been planned – I can remember as a schoolkid people talking about planning for the Traralgon bypass, and I am pretty old; in fact tomorrow I am even older, because it is my birthday. But this has been going for a long time, and we need to get on with it.

The previous answers I have got – and I notice on the Transport Victoria website it still refers to needing to get the Loy Yang mine rehabilitation sorted out before we do anything more. That is an excuse, because that was not an issue in 2017 when the government put up $1.4 million for planning when we knew that there was going to have to be rehabilitation at the Loy Yang mine. There are going to be issues with the Loy Yang mine, because the bypass will need to go relatively close to it, but it is not a reason to stop. There is only really one way the Traralgon bypass can go, and that is to the south of Traralgon, between the town and the mine. I know Latrobe City Council are also seeking some clarity because they have got a development as well that they want progress on, but there are something like – I am just trying to do a calculation; it depends on where you start and stop – about a dozen sets of traffic lights now in Traralgon. For anyone east of town, including Sale, Rosedale and Loch Sport in my electorate, that part of the world and further east into the member for Gippsland East’s electorate, it is becoming a massive drain. It is a very, very slow process and very frustrating to get through all those traffic lights. Indeed the people of Traralgon I am sure would welcome the bypass, because their town is now clogged up with trucks and traffic that is going through. The government needs to get on with it. We need to complete the planning and then work with the federal government to actually fund it. I ask the minister to do so.