Thursday, 10 September 2026

 Evan MULHOLLAND (Northern Metropolitan) (21:44): (2801) My adjournment this evening is for the Minister for Roads and Road Safety. There have been multiple ministers for roads and road safety; I think there have been about three in four months. So I thought I would acquaint myself and give Minister Hamer a bit of a history lesson about Donnybrook Road in my electorate.

Bev McArthur interjected.

Evan MULHOLLAND: It is pothole-filled, Donnybrook Road, even for Pothole Paul. Residents of Donnybrook, Kalkallo and Mickleham have long suffered from Labor’s neglect of the growth areas of Melbourne. Around 35,000 vehicles use Donnybrook Road every day, despite the road only having been designed to carry 20,000.

For this history lesson we have to go back some way. You see, in 2012 the Liberals and Nationals in government signed a developer contribution plan with a developer to duplicate the entirety of Donnybrook Road on the Mickleham side. If you look just to the left of that beautiful road that the Liberals and Nationals duplicated – Donnybrook Road in Mickleham – you can admire the only achievement of the Labor Party in that part of the world, which is the mothballed quarantine facility. You can admire that as you look for Labor’s achievements near Donnybrook Road. You can also look to the bridge over the Hume and the Kalkallo and Donnybrook side of Donnybrook Road, which is an old farm track. Labor for the last 12 years has approved housing estate after housing estate after housing estate and built new home after new home after new home and not actually delivered the infrastructure to keep up with that growth. It is still an old farm track and people still get stuck in traffic every day, but it does not have to be this way.

Jess Wilson, Amanda Dow – our Liberal candidate for Yan Yean – and I have announced that a Liberal and Nationals government will invest $524 million to duplicate the entire stretch of Donnybrook Road from Epping Road in Woodstock to Dwyer Street in Kalkallo, build a second bridge over the Hume and remove the level crossing at Donnybrook station. It is a commitment that was welcomed by both Hume City Council and Whittlesea City Council but not actually matched by the Labor Party. We saw in leaked reports that the seat of Yan Yean has lost all resources from the Labor Party, so they have clearly given up on it. But the seat of Kalkallo also covers Donnybrook Road, so I seek the action of the minister to consider matching our fantastic announcement.