Andrew Giles (Scullin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am looking forward to both ministers' responses, but it should be pleasing to have a minister for transport from Victoria. It is so disappointing that not only the minister from Victoria but both ministers are not engaging with their responsibilities when it comes to infrastructure provision in Victoria and, in particular, in Melbourne. This is particularly egregious because it is the case that there is a large evidence base supporting good projects. The member for Shortland has just taken us through the debacle that has been the Commonwealth indulgence over East West Link—again, a criminal indulgence, in defiance of the evidence, in defiance of any nation-building agenda on the part of this government.

As the local member for Scullin, if you want to talk about other road projects, the people of Epping North, Epping and Wollert are desperate; they have been waiting for far too long to see the Oherns Road project completed—a project that Labor, in federal government, committed to, a project that the Andrews government have committed funds to, a project that the City of Whittlesea have committed to, a project with a business case that stacks up, a project in need of federal government support. This is incredibly important to the growth area around Epping, the Epping central activity district, centred around the Northern Hospital, one of the busiest hospitals in Victoria. It is an area also containing the Melbourne markets—a matter that may be of interest to some of the constituents of the minister for transport. If the market is to prosper, we need the Oherns interchange project completed now. This is why Labor, at the last election, promised to fund the federal government's share—a fair share—of the Oherns Road interchange project. I thank the member for Grayndler for coming out to the site at Epping North to make that commitment, which was incredibly well received by the local communities, including communities in the McEwen electorate and, I am sure, people in the Calwell electorate.

However, the communities of Melbourne's northern suburbs are awaiting any meaningful response from the ministers opposite, a meaningful response to a project with a business case that stacks up and with clear community need underpinning it. The residential areas beyond the business area of Epping Central are going to grow by 40,000 over the next 10 years. This project must be built now. The quality of life of these residents and the ability of the businesses and the hospital to conduct themselves depend on immediate funding of this project.

The member for Grayndler talked about some of the wider issues in terms of the federal government's failure to support Victorian infrastructure—in particular, the appalling freeze on the M80, linking the electorate of Lalor with the electorates of Scullin, McEwen and Jagajaga, through Calwell. The delays there have had an enormous cost on my constituents and on business and residential amenity in Melbourne more generally. The failure to invest in public transport has put a big pause on making Melbourne the most livable, sustainable and productive city it can and should be. Growth areas, in particular, are stuck in traffic under this government, which is damaging lives as well as damaging growth. This government's failure to invest in city-shaping infrastructure in Melbourne, based on evidence, is not only meaning less time for people with their families—a big cost on livability—but it is a huge handbrake on productivity, a huge brake on economic growth, running completely counter to the rhetoric of this government around jobs and growth. So I ask the ministers, because I have trouble seeing anything about it in this government's budget: when will Victoria, and in particular Epping and Melbourne's north, get our fair share of infrastructure funding? Specifically, when will the minister commit to fund the O'Herns Road interchange project?

See this speech in context