Thursday, 14 November 2019

In reply to  Mr ONDARCHIE (Northern Metropolitan) (29 August 2019)

Ms ALLAN (Bendigo East—Leader of the House, Minister for Transport Infrastructure):

I thank the Member for Northern Metropolitan for his continued interest in the Andrews Labor Government’s transport infrastructure agenda across Melbourne’s North, as well as our level crossing removal program.

It’s always welcome when the Liberal Party advocates for the removal of level crossings. Victorians know that Labor gets rid of level crossings and Liberals don’t. They didn’t get rid of them in Government and they are trying to keep them from opposition.

To date, the Andrews Labor Government has removed 30 level crossings. This means safer communities, less congested roads, more trains, and thousands of jobs for Victorians. A further 25 level crossings will be removed by 2025, in addition to the 50 already planned, underway or completed. In total, 75 level crossings will be removed by 2025.

As the Member would be aware, the Andrews Labor Government is getting rid of level crossings all across the Northern Metropolitan electorate including: Camp Road, Cambellfield; Glenroy Road, Coburg; Grange Road, Alphington; High Street, Reservoir; Bell Street, Preston; Oakover Road, Preston; Cramer Street, Preston; Murray Road, Preston; Moreland Road, Moreland; Bell Street, Coburg; Reynard Street, Coburg; and Munro Street, Coburg.

Last year, the Level Crossing Removal Project (LXRP) developed a framework to prioritise future level crossing removals and identified new sites and recommended designs. We based our additional 25 level crossings on this work.

At the last election, the Liberals had no plans to remove the level crossings referenced by the Member. We welcome his newfound advocacy to remove level crossings. The only way to remove more level crossings is to remove the first 75.