Phillip Barresi (Deakin, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Members on the other side never come into the chamber and speak about us—of course they don’t! But there are a range of policies and initiatives in this budget that have benefited us as a nation and, importantly, there are a range of initiatives and services which benefit the community that I represent, in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne. I want to touch on some of those in the time that I have left. The Springvale Road level crossing project received a vital cash injection in this year’s budget of $25 million to investigate alternatives and alleviate the traffic congestion that gridlocks over 120,000 commuters a day. This level crossing is now ranked by the RACV as one of the top intersection black spots in all of Melbourne. Thanks to this funding boost, the local council now has the funds to begin a comprehensive study to investigate alternatives to fix this chronic bottleneck in Melbourne’s east.

Without this injection of funds, commuters and residents throughout a large corridor of the Deakin electorate would be left with nowhere to go, particularly after the state Labor government, awash with cash, did not deliver one cent to this project. This is a road that traditionally would fall under the jurisdiction of the state government, and yet the state government, despite pleas from my office—and even from some of Labor’s own state MPs, who have basically been told to shut up and keep quiet—has walked away from the motorists and the residents in the eastern suburbs and refused to fund this project. The state Labor government has deliberately neglected this road and the region. Why has it done this? A source close to the state government revealed to me that a deal had been done by Premier Bracks not to support grade separation for fear it will divert traffic from the new toll link. I call on the Bracks government to reveal the contractual agreement and refute this claim, and to support the federal government’s funding for this road. This funding is urgently needed and has been called upon by all of us in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne.

Another very welcome federal government budget measure that will benefit my community is the preservation of the Blackburn Lake Sanctuary, whereby $1.8 million has been set aside to help purchase a one-third stake in the allotment adjoining the lake, thereby preserving a vital space for the local community. This funding comes off the back of widespread public concern in this area about land and habitat preservation. I am pleased to say that, after representations that I made on behalf of the community, the federal government has agreed to this buyback plan and it is well on its way. It will mean that a vital slice of Blackburn’s environment will be set aside for the residents to enjoy for the years to come.

I will also take this opportunity, while I am at it, to mention that there has been some muttering that some of the stakeholders who initially proposed to buy back this land—the local council and the state government, but in this case I focus my attention on the council—may be trying to do a runner on the residents, to weasel their way out the back door and not fund the purchase of this land. Having fought so hard to get the funding and having made commitments, they may now be looking at possible loopholes to avoid the purchase. Certainly if they do so the residents, the ratepayers and the taxpayers in the Blackburn area will be very vengeful, and they will take out their displeasure on the council at the coming council election, in 2008.

I entered parliament determined to make a difference for my local community and for our nation, as most members of parliament do. I always saw education as one of the areas where opportunities can be made and skills enhanced to improve prospects for future generations. I particularly welcome initiatives in the area of technical education. With an Australian technical college located in my electorate of Deakin, at the site of the Ringwood Secondary College, I have seen firsthand how important it is that we skill up our youth to prepare them for the future. I am very proud of this particular college. It has been established after vigorous representations by me to get its forerunner on that site, the automotive and manufacturing technology skills centre, established. The college itself will be taking over that skills centre and we will have a comprehensive educational facility which will deliver vital trade skills.

These policies in the area of trade are important. I commend the Minister for Vocational and Further Education, Andrew Robb, for working closely with a coalition of education groups and industry to develop policies which cut to the heart of the matter and engender real change in this particular area. These are not policy announcements made on the back of an envelope that there will be trade schools in every school. I do not know where they are going to find the teachers and the tradesmen to go into those schools, and not simply the numbers but even just getting them out to the various locations. It is a wishy-washy statement with very little thought having gone into it.

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