Wednesday, 18 June 2025

 Aiv PUGLIELLI (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (12:27): (955) My question is to the Minister for Ports and Freight in the other place. The Port of Melbourne’s draft 30-year strategy forecasts an extra 20,000 trucks per day visiting the port in 2050 and that bigger trucks and more night-time traffic will be required to meet demand. People in the west already report having to deal with heavy truck traffic to and from the port and face high levels of pollution and consequently higher rates of asthma and lung cancer. Will the government bring forward the port rail shuttle project to be completed before 2030, shifting some of the containers onto rail and reducing the need for trucks?

 Lizzie BLANDTHORN (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Children, Minister for Disability) (12:27): I thank Mr Puglielli for his question, and I will refer it accordingly.

 Aiv PUGLIELLI (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (12:27): I thank the minister for referring that on. Given the predicted doubling of truck traffic, can the minister provide any modelling that has been undertaken to demonstrate the flow-on impacts of this change on the community, such as on air quality, and confirm whether she has been consulted on declaring a low-emissions zone for the western suburbs with the highest levels of truck traffic, only allowing trucks with Euro 5 levels of emissions or better to enter the zone?

 Lizzie BLANDTHORN (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Children, Minister for Disability) (12:28): I thank Mr Puglielli for his supplementary and will refer it accordingly.