Kelly O'Dwyer (Higgins, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I concur in the Member for Throsby's view that the provision of infrastructure within Australia is vital to our ongoing economic prosperity, not just within regional and rural communities but also in our growing urban centres. This is something that is well understood within my electorate of Higgins, which covers inner south-eastern Melbourne, where road and rail congestion has both a social and economic impact. The electorate of Higgins is served by two rail lines, the Glen Waverley line to the middle eastern suburbs and the longer Dandenong line, which serves over one million people in Melbourne's south-east. It is a key area for future population and economic growth with commercial sites through to Dandenong and thereafter the proposed deep-water port of Hastings. The catchment area of this rail corridor alone contributed $92 billion in 2007-08, accounting for roughly half of Melbourne's gross domestic product, or nine per cent nationally.

Historically, Melbourne has benefited from thoughtful planning. However, there remain 172 grade-level crossings within metropolitan Melbourne, with eight of these in Higgins—the same number as for the whole of metropolitan Sydney. Many of these crossings are positioned on Melbourne's busiest roads, adjacent to major arterials such as the Monash Freeway and the Dandenong Road/Princes Highway. These level crossings cause substantial delays to motorists, road-based freight and road-based public transport—15 to 40 minutes during peak times—while limiting growth in rail-based public transport due to capacity constraints. Along the Dandenong rail corridor, within Higgins and bordering Chisholm and Hotham, level crossing congestion is hands-down the single largest issue facing constituents on a daily basis. It influences key decisions such as where they will shop; where they will send their children to school; and how they will access work.

The 2012 RACV red-spot survey ranks three Higgins level crossings in Victoria's top 10 worst congestion sites. They are: Murrumbeena Road, Murrumbeena (No. 1); Koornang Road, Carnegie (No. 4) and Burke Road, Glen Iris (No. 5). There is broad agreement as to the nature of the problem. How these projects are funded, however, remains less clear. Given that the removal of a level crossing costs up to $200 million, it is important to consider the track record of actual investment by governments, because, as we all know, talk is cheap. The biggest effort by any Victorian government to address this very real issue has come from the current Victorian government. I am pleased to say that as part of this process the Victorian government has commenced planning for the removal of the level crossings at Burke Road, Glen Iris and Murrumbeena Road, Murrumbeena. Both are within Higgins. In fact, just under a fortnight ago over 400 people attended public meetings held by VicRoads to discuss the proposed plans for the Burke Road level crossing.

This progress is in stark contrast to the inaction of the previous federal Labor government and state governments. It is of concern to me that since 2011 the Victorian government has been unsuccessful in seeking federal government support, via Infrastructure Australia and the Nation Building Program, despite the fact that this infrastructure is productivity-enhancing infrastructure that would pay huge social and economic dividends to Victoria. In fact, in the 2011-2012 federal budget, Victorians received the lowest federal spending per person on infrastructure of any state in Australia. To raise awareness at a federal level, I have spoken regularly in this place on this issue. In June of this year I tabled a petition signed by 1,151 constituents calling for greater funding priority to be given to level crossing removal by the federal government. I wrote regularly to the member for Grayndler, the then Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, and—following his visit to a St Albans railway crossing with the member for Maribyrnong and now Leader of the Opposition—I even invited him to come and see the difficulties posed by at grade-level crossings in my electorate. (Time expired)

Debate interrupted.

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