Wednesday, 15 November 2023

Northern Metropolitan Region

Evan MULHOLLAND (Northern Metropolitan) (12:49): (560) My constituency question is for the Minister for Planning, and it concerns the Growth Areas Infrastructure Contribution Fund, which is contributed by developers and homebuyers. When I called the former Premier out for hoarding and sitting on half a billion dollars worth of GAIC money earlier this year, he actually said:

We don’t rush … funding to projects, we think about the best projects for a local community and we do that properly.

He made it sound like progress was underway, but I know that councils have only just been asked, ‘What do you want?’ I would like to ask the minister to strongly consider that the GAIC fund be used to build a pedestrian footbridge over the Merri Creek in my electorate in the suburb of Kalkallo so that residents can walk directly to Donnybrook station. This project is constantly raised with me as a no-brainer and an essential way for residents to access public transport without having to sit in the car for an hour and a half just to get out of their estate and around to the train station. Will the minister heed my community’s call and use the owed GAIC money to fund this project?