Tuesday, 10 September 2019

 Mr RICH-PHILLIPS (South Eastern Metropolitan) (17:43): This is a matter for the attention of the Minister for Roads regarding the need for sound barriers on the Mornington Peninsula Freeway. This is a longstanding matter of concern to residents who live at the bottom end of the Mornington Peninsula, the communities around Safety Beach, Dromana, McCrae and Rosebud. In fact it was first raised in the Victorian Parliament in 2003, some 16 years ago. At that point the increase in traffic flow on the Mornington Peninsula Freeway was generating substantial noise for residents living along that section of freeway, and intervention was sought then from VicRoads to have sound barriers constructed. Subsequently nothing has happened in the last 16 years. Indeed in the mid-2000s VicRoads undertook an assessment of the noise signature along that section of road which revealed that it did exceed the VicRoads standard of 68 decibels, and that situation has only become worse since that assessment was done by VicRoads in the mid-2000s. The situation has been further worsened since the opening of Peninsula Link in 2013, which has funnelled further traffic onto the Mornington Peninsula Freeway—which of course terminates at the Jetty Road intersection, the south-western end of that freeway—leading to even further noise issues for residents in those communities.

In recent weeks I have had the opportunity to meet on site with members of the Sick of Freeway Noise group on the Mornington Peninsula, who are strongly advocating for noise attenuation to be constructed at the end of the Mornington Peninsula Freeway. They note that recent work by VicRoads to install wire rope barriers has led to the removal of considerable vegetation from that section of freeway, which has made the noise situation worse. So not only have we had traffic growth and Peninsula Link opening; we now have the removal of vegetation, which has made the noise situation even worse.

The federal government in March or April of this year, in this year’s budget, committed $5 million to the construction of noise barriers on that section of the Mornington Peninsula Freeway as part of a bigger package for the upgrade of an overpass at Jetty Road. So I now ask the Minister for Roads: will she take the opportunity presented by the $5 million from the federal government and match that with state funding to ensure that those residents at the end of the Mornington Peninsula Freeway can now have the sound barriers they have waited for more than 15 years for?