Wednesday, 29 October 2025

 Moira DEEMING (Western Metropolitan) (18:33): (2050) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Transport Infrastructure, and the action I seek is that the minister publish the full tolling model and concession terms for the West Gate Tunnel and freeway and table them in Parliament before the tolls commence. When the West Gate Tunnel opens, Labor’s tolling deal with Transurban will ensure that the very people who build, drive and deliver for Victoria will pay more than anyone else just to get to work. Under the deal, cars and light commercials will be tolled on the tunnel and the Hyde Street ramps, and heavy vehicles will be tolled on the West Gate Freeway between Millers Road and Williamstown Road, the only freeway in the state where trucks must pay simply to access the city. At the same time Labor’s so-called no-truck zones on Francis Street, Somerville Road, Buckley Street, Moore Street, Blackshaws Road and Hudsons Road will funnel every single delivery truck straight back into Transurban’s toll network. That is not congestion management; that is a forced monopoly – a toll trap for workers in the west. And who benefits? The same company whose CityLink concession was extended to 2045, guaranteeing toll increases of the greater of 4.2 per cent and CPI until 2029. While families in Box Hill or Brighton drive to work toll free, families in Werribee, Laverton and Sunshine pay thousands a year just to show up for their shifts. This is reverse Robin Hood economics – taking from the tradies, the truckies and the small business owners of the west to line the pockets of billion-dollar corporations in the east.