Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I also rise to speak on this motion, but I will neither surprise nor disappoint the member for Deakin when I say that I do not support this completely wasteful tunnel. This is a truck tunnel—an $18 billion truck tunnel that will mean no other project built in Victoria from here to eternity. That much money going to one project will ensure that all our electorates never have anything else built, particularly in regional Victoria.

It will not resolve the problem of traffic congestion that, yes, my constituents feel every day. Yes, I understand this problem. I drove down that road this morning to get to the airport and, yes, when I hit the end of the Eastern Freeway, got to Alexander Parade and got through all those traffic lights, it was a crawl—a moaning crawl. The tragedy is that this traffic problem and this congestion will not be resolved by this $18 billion fest by the coalition government in Victoria or federally. Indeed, actual modelling has demonstrated that the time will increase for commuters who want to go to town. The majority of my constituents and those in the electorate of Deakin, when they get to the end of the eastern, are not turning right, as I did this morning to go to the airport.

It may resolve some issues for commuters to the airport and for freight, but it is not going to help the majority of my electorate who turn left to go to work in town. Indeed, the travel time for them will increase. It will increase—I am not wrong; I have the modelling to prove it. The modelling from Veich Lister reveals that building the tunnel will actually increase traffic on key sections of Melbourne's road network. Hoddle Street near the Eastern Freeway will increase the morning peak time by 35 per cent; Manningham near Bulleen Road will increase 25 per cent in the am and 20 per cent in the pm; the Eastern Freeway link near the East west Link Tunnel will increase travel time by 69 per cent—it will not decrease travel time. The cost blow-out is enormous.

If we are talking about backflips, let us look at the backflip on this one. Terry Mulder in 2010 said:

You made that up … you were wrong …We are not going to this election with a plan …

for an East-West Tunnel. That is what they said in 2010. Terry Mulder is on my side because he also said:

You're not going to drive yourself out of a problem. Our view is that the answer is an effective, reliable public transport system. That's what's needed here—more investment in public transport.

Why don't we hear those opposite talking about putting the light rail down the Eastern? Let's talk about that and let's talk about really resolving congestion problems in this area.

The designers of City Link, Alan Hale and his colleagues at engineering firm Acer Wargon Chapman have criticised the East west Link.

Mr Hale says the 5.2 kilometre toll road is "the wrong priority and will not alleviate congestion across the city" and that the Napthine government is set to sign on to a project that will set Melbourne back for years.

"The evidence from cities around the world where real renewal has been achieved is public transport should be the primary focus," he said.

"For those of us who have been involved in major transport projects long enough, the lessons learnt, often the hard way, are that building more roads without investing in public transport is simply a recipe for inducing more vehicular travel." Mr Hale, no public transport purist, argues completing the "missing link" in the ring road between Greensborough and the Eastern Freeway would "make a lot of sense" because, unlike the East West Link, it would divert traffic from the inner suburbs.

That was reported in The Age in September 2014, entitled 'Wrong Way on Road Link'. Yes, it is the wrong way on this road link. This is an enormous amount of money going into a tunnel that will not resolve the problem and will put a huge impost and impact on our community and our assets.

You just need to look at what is going to happen around the Parkville precinct: the Parkville Cricket Club, the Seeing Eye Dog training centre, the Urban Camp, the impact on the Moonee Ponds Creek, the birdlife in Kensington, Flemington and North Melbourne area, the loss of playground space at the Flemington housing estate, the significant loss of trees on Flemington Road, the Clifton Hill Primary School and the Chinese aged-care facility at Parkville. This will be a huge impost on my electorate with many people concerned about what is going to happen to their aged people. This tunnel is the wrong way to go.

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