Transport infrastructure
Wendy LOVELL (Northern Victoria) (14:00): In recently leaked recordings the Minister for the Suburban Rail Loop Harriet Shing revealed the truth about how growth suburbs in Melbourne’s north and west have been totally abandoned by the Allan Labor government. Minister Shing admitted that while the outer western and outer northern suburbs have been shackled with the burden of the city’s population expansion, Labor has not delivered the essential infrastructure needed to support residents to travel around their suburbs with ease or commute into the city. Minister Shing confessed that residents in those suburbs spend hours stuck in traffic while trying to get to work or to go shopping, a clear admission that Labor has totally failed my constituents in the northern suburbs, especially around Donnybrook and Kalkallo. Even worse, Labor has no plan to actually deal with the traffic crisis in the area, which has been created by Labor’s own reckless approach to approving developments. Labor is greedy to collect stamp duty and property taxes but will not invest that money in duplicating Donnybrook Road or commit to electrifying the train line up to Wallan.
The Labor government has just announced another mega suburb of 50,000 people in Beveridge but will not commit to the funds to build a new train station in Beveridge. This is a recipe for disaster. Roads will be clogged and trains will be jam-packed, with people left standing on the platform running late for work. Under this reckless plan transport infrastructure in the area will be crippled for another decade, and Labor has no plan to fix it.