Thursday, 31 October 2019

 Mr GUY (Bulleen) (17:26): (1391) My adjournment issue is for the Minister for Roads and it concerns Tram Road in Doncaster and potential road upgrades that are needed at the bottom of Tram Road near the Eastern Freeway. With the construction of the North East Link and with greater population growth around central Doncaster, there is a need to upgrade Tram Road, particularly near Applewood Retirement Village. There is money that has been offered by the federal government, particularly at the federal election earlier this year, to upgrade the non-signalised intersection that currently exists around the Applewood Retirement Village, which is home to hundreds of residents. This intersection needs to be upgraded. It does need to be signalised. It needs to be widened. There is money on the table. VicRoads and the state government are playing games here.

I ask the minister to intervene. I ask the minister to ensure that this money from the federal government that has been offered is indeed utilised rather than wasted and that we actually get a result, and that result is the proper signalisation of this intersection—which is for the benefit of the residents—which will provide a safe crossing point for school kids, for aged residents, older residents, at the bottom end of Tram Road, which has no signalised intersection.

The Manningham council’s preferred option is for it to be further up Tram Road near existing and to-be-built apartment towers. That is too far away; it is nearly a kilometre away. Therefore the best option here would be to signalise the Tram Road intersection near Applewood Retirement Village with the money offered by the federal government, with the state government being the proponent for this, given that it is a state road, a VicRoads road. The money should not be wasted. We need to get on with it, and I ask the roads minister to intervene to make it happen.