Tuesday, 21 February 2023

 Katherine COPSEY (Southern Metropolitan) (13:15): Residents of Footscray were notified in 2015 that new night and weekend curfews on Moore Street would be introduced for trucks and road trains, but eight years on this community is still facing significant noise and environmental pollution, disrupted sleep and impacted physical and mental wellbeing from highly frequent truck traffic. While the Andrews government promised that there will be a complete truck ban following the completion of the West Gate Tunnel, which is now overdue, Footscray community organisers and residents are telling us repeatedly that they cannot keep waiting, and I do not blame them.

I asked Minister Horne to explain the government’s decision to provide truck exemptions to bypass the West Gate Bridge without consulting or notifying residents and how freight such as concrete casings, originally meant to be on rail, is instead being delivered on road trains along Moore Street, apparently unchecked. Over 670 community members have signed a petition calling on Melissa Horne, Minister for Roads and Road Safety and Minister for Ports and Freight, to meaningfully restore the 2015 Footscray truck curfew. I stand with them in urging the government to act swiftly on the following: firstly, to restore, monitor and enforce – importantly – the 2015 night and weekend curfews for Moore Street without exemptions; and secondly, to monitor the health and environmental impacts of this heavy, frequent truck movement in regard to both the exhaust and sound pollution that is impacting families and local residents.