Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Climate Action, Environment and Heritage) Share this | Hansard source

It gives me great pleasure to follow the member for Gellibrand on this motion moved by the member for Aston. I support fully, completely, absolutely and unequivocally not only the project but the member for Aston's motion. I met by chance on the weekend with our candidate for Gellibrand, David McConnell, who was completely and utterly supportive of the East-West Link project. The reason why he is supportive of that project is it helps the people of the west. He viewed it as a lifeline to people from the west in reducing congestion on the streets of Williamstown in Gellibrand, in Lalor and in so many other areas.

In her twilight days I can also express my respect for someone I have known for many years, the member who is opposite at the table now, the member for Gellibrand.

Unprompted, without any input I asked David McConnell, our candidate for the seat of Gellibrand, what was his No. 1 issue. He said, 'The East-West Link because that is what matters to the people in my area for whom I am meant to stand up.' He was a little bit surprised that there was a great ambivalence and uncertainty on the ALP side as to whether or not they should support the project. He knew his mind. He knew the constituents.

I stand here today not just as a representative of a parliamentary party but much more importantly as a representative of the people of Flinders. They have already had the success of the Eastern Freeway, the East Link project and the Peninsular Link project. The missing part now is the East-West Link. So whether it is the people of the west or whether it is the people of the east, this project is fundamental to quality of life. It is also fundamental to Melbourne's economic health and future. It is about productivity, it is about reduced congestion and also, as a consequence of that, it is about safety on our roads and on our neighbourhood streets. For all of these reasons, Melbourne should be allowed to proceed, Victoria should be allowed to proceed with the East-West Link project. To that end the coalition government, if we were elected, would allocate $1½ billion dollars. The Leader of the Opposition, Mr Abbott, has made it absolutely clear our commitment is not in doubt. There is no dispute. It is a projected, funded forward commitment which we will deliver.

We want to work with the Napthine government. They have been tremendous in setting out both the vision and the hard reality of plans with which we can assist. We will do that. We hope that we will not be opposed either by the state ALP or the federal ALP. If there were no change of government at federal level, I would hope that there was clear bipartisan support for this project because this project is about reducing traffic in the east, in the west and also in the north where many people take the streets in order to avoid congestion. In addition, as I say, it is about jobs, not just jobs during production but, even more importantly, it is about long-term jobs in our manufacturing and logistics sectors because it will make Melbourne more attractive as a place to build, create, develop and do business.

If we can work, as I have previously said, towards a network of transport hubs around our city then ultimately we will have the completion of the road quadrant. The ports, both the Docklands area and the Corio Geelong area, need support as does the Western Port area. Then we have the basis for an orbital network, which takes jobs and transport to the periphery. This unclogs the centre, and this project is part of that broader 30-year vision for Melbourne as a great manufacturing capital of the southern hemisphere.

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