Thursday, 28 November 2024

 Trung LUU (Western Metropolitan) (18:17): (1339) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Transport Infrastructure and concerns the West Gate Tunnel ventilation system and its impact on residents in the west. The action I seek is the minister’s commitment to installing air pollution filters on the West Gate Tunnel ventilation system to prevent the emission of harmful air pollution and toxic fumes. Residents of Maribyrnong are concerned about the West Gate Tunnel’s air quality impact, describing the proposed ventilation system as an unfiltered chimney due to the lack of air pollution filters. The Maribyrnong City Council declared a health emergency last year due to the impact of air pollution from heavy trucks using the area. With over 200,000 vehicles currently using the West Gate Freeway daily, the new tunnel is expected to divert 30,000 vehicles, including 9000 trucks, off the streets of Yarraville, all emitting toxic fumes directly into the unfiltered ventilation system. A government-appointed advisory committee in 2017 recommended pollution filters should be installed due to poor air quality, but the then Minister for Planning Richard Wynne rejected the proposal, claiming that filters were not justified or cost effective and suggesting retrofitting if warranted.

The Maribyrnong Truck Action Group expressed their concern about the unfiltered exhaust emissions and urged the EPA to reconsider its decision not to require the fitting of air pollution filters on the $10 billion tunnel twin vents. They cautioned people with asthma, which could be inflamed due to this increase in unfiltered exhaust emissions, and said that the cost of the filters is only minor compared to an already blown-out $3.8 billion. It is extraordinary that international tunnels in Norway, the Netherlands, France, Japan, Austria, Italy, Germany, South Korea and Spain consider it necessary to install air pollution filters, yet in Australia the Allan Labor government neglects the health and wellbeing of Victorians in the west. The $10.1 billion West Gate Tunnel Project should have budget to include an air filter system, yet Labor cannot manage money and once again residents of the west are paying the price. Victorians, especially those in the west, deserve not to be subject to these toxic fumes that are impacting their health. Clean air should be a basic right for all Victorians, not a luxury. Therefore I ask for the minister’s commitment to installing exhaust air pollution filters on the ventilation stacks to safeguard the health of residents and improve air quality for Victorians in the western suburbs.