Tuesday, 8 March 2022

Sunbury train station car parking

Mr FINN (Western Metropolitan) (19:37): (1787) I wish to raise a matter for the attention of the Minister for Public Transport, I think—it could be the Minister for Transport Infrastructure. We will work that out at some point, I am sure. It concerns a major issue in the Sunbury township that has been gnawing at people—more than gnawing at people, consuming people—for a very, very long period of time, and that is the lack of parking. I have to say, driving around Sunbury yesterday looking for a park, it was rather frustrating to say the very least, but we finally got there.

The government before the last election promised that it was going to give us more parking at the railway station. It was going to double the size of the car park. It was just going to be the most marvellous thing in the history of the world. We are still waiting for the increase in parking at the railway station. But what has happened in the meantime is that they are working on the rail line and all the trucks have taken all the parking, so we have got a situation where the car park that is on the corner of Station Street has been completely consumed by the workers and their trucks. I tell you what: I wish I had invested in stop signs and I wish I had invested in speed signs, because they are everywhere. They are absolutely everywhere.

Ms Patten: It’s not too late.

Mr FINN: Well, I think it is, because that horse has bolted, I have got to tell you. But these things are just all over the place, and as a result the parking problem that Sunbury has long complained about has blown out like—

Dr Bach: The West Gate Tunnel.

Mr FINN: Nothing has blown out like the West Gate Tunnel, Dr Bach, but let me assure you it has become a major problem and it is driving us all to distraction. What I would like the minister to do—either or both; I am not particularly caring at this point in time—is to tell us where the parking has gone. The parking that was promised before the last election to the good people of Sunbury: I want to know where it is. Has it gone the same way as the 4000 ICU beds? I do not know. But I tell you what: the promise that was made before the last election has not been fulfilled, and there are hundreds if not thousands of people in Sunbury driving around and around, watching their fuel gauge fall—at $1.99 a litre, thank you very much. It is just appalling, and I ask the minister to explain to us why the government has not kept its promise.