Adjournment
Ms PULFORD (Western Victoria—Minister for Employment, Minister for Innovation, Medical Research and the Digital Economy, Minister for Small Business, Minister for Resources) (17:25): I move:
That the house do now adjourn.
Mickleham and Somerton roads, Greenvale
Mr ONDARCHIE (Northern Metropolitan) (17:25): (1771) My adjournment matter this afternoon is for the Minister for Transport Infrastructure. Greenvale residents have been left wondering why the roadworks where Somerton Road meets Mickleham Road were not done during the lockdowns as opposed to now—in an election year. Last week I was grateful to be invited by local advocate Mennan Yelkenci and Councillor Jim Overend to meet with Greenvale residents to hear their concerns. Residents raised issues about pedestrian crossings, illegal rubbish dumping and a lot about congestion. They reported about the choked Mickleham Road and Somerton Road. It is just a nightmare out there. The Somerton Road–Mickleham Road intersection roadworks are being done at the wrong time. They should have been done when we were locked down during COVID for two years, but they have just started them now. That intersection, if you listen to the morning traffic reports, is going to be closed until April this year. It is just a nightmare. And who would have thought? In the two years where not much traffic was moving around we could have done it then.
A member interjected.
Mr ONDARCHIE: Well, they might have been working from home. The money allocated in the 2020–21 state budget to upgrade those roads is less than a tenth of what it takes to fix them. It is pure tokenism. It is an insult to the locals, and they will not be fooled by this con job in this election year. My residents need to spend less time in traffic and more time with their families. The action I seek from the minister, by way of directing their department, is to duplicate Mickleham Road to Destination Drive and bring forward the Somerton Road upgrade immediately. It should have been done by now. It was promised eight years ago.