Tuesday, 18 February 2020

Five Ways intersection, Warrandyte

Mr R SMITH (Warrandyte) (13:46): I would like to draw the attention of the house to the petition I tabled in this place in the last sitting week regarding the Five Ways intersection in South Warrandyte, covering the Ringwood-Warrandyte Road, Husseys Lane, Brumbys Road and Croydon Road. The Warrandyte electorate has spoken overwhelmingly, with over 850 signatures asking for immediate action by the Andrews Labor government to fix this treacherous intersection instead of waiting for a fatality to be the catalyst for action. Local residents have made a number of comments on social media, and local resident Pam O’Connor stated in the ManninghamLeader newspaper last week that the intersection is ‘extremely dangerous’.

The previous minister for roads, the member for Narre Warren North, ignored my residents when he had responsibility for the portfolio. It now seems the current minister, Ms Pulford in the other place, is doing likewise. Instead of actually doing something, we have been told that the department will ‘continue to monitor the safety and operation of this intersection’, and more recently, the minister has asked the department to review it and see if there are any short-term, low-cost improvements that can be made. It seems that, with a budget on the brink of collapse due to massive cost overruns on infrastructure projects and massive pay rises for the Premier and his ministers, ‘short-term and low-cost’ are about all that Victorians can afford now. The electorate of Warrandyte deserves so much better from this government, and this government needs to ensure that it is delivering for all Victorians and not just its mates.