Tuesday, 18 March 2025

 Ann-Marie HERMANS (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (23:54): (1504) My adjournment matter tonight is for the Minister for Transport Infrastructure. The action I seek is for the minister to meet with me, together with local residents, to hear their concerns regarding the Level Crossing Removal Authority’s removal of trees and other vegetation at Groves Reserve in Aspendale and to see the mess that this government has made of the once beautiful community gift of the tree-lined Groves Reserve. Groves Reserve was a gift to the community by a former councillor and was set aside for community use. It is a remnant area of banksia woodland, or it was, and it is situated between the Nepean Highway and the railway line in the suburb of Aspendale. It offered walking and cycling trails that connected the Aspendale foreshore with the Mordialloc Creek Reserve. The Level Crossing Removal Project (LXRP) had planned to remove – and now, I discovered after visiting last week, has removed – a vast number of significant trees and other vegetation as part of its nearby level crossing removal program. That is in spite of the fact that one of the Indigenous elders pleaded with the government because some of these trees were 180 years old and of great significance to the community. I will say that in the local area the whole reserve was of great significance to the community and was thoroughly enjoyed, even though it has a train line going through it now.

Like in most of these cases where the LXRP is walking all over the local residents and not listening to their concerns, the local Labor Party MP is failing to stand up for or listen to his constituents. It is disappointing that the member for Mordialloc is not advocating and has not advocated for his constituents but rather has allowed the LXRP to ignore local residents and destroy this significant area of local greenery. The Kingston Residents Association are calling for:

… a stay of … demolition of this environmentally significant woodland until further investigation and proper consultation with those of us who think it would be possible to proceed with the LXRP works without destroying the reserve.

Unfortunately, it is now too late for that to take place, and some of the few trees, or parts of trees, that they have left behind are not trees of significance – they are not that old. In fact they have made such a mess of this reserve that was gifted to the public. It is really embarrassing to look through the wires of this fence and to see how this government has treated the vegetation. It has no understanding of how to look after its own reserves, and really the area is an absolute mess. It is abysmal.