Jason Wood (La Trobe, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Community Safety, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I cannot believe how much the Labor federal government and Prime Minister Albanese hate the people of the Dandenong Ranges and the hills, because today I found out that in the last federal budget they scrapped $300 million to seal the unsealed roads through the Dandenong Ranges, from suburbs such as Emerald, Cockatoo, Gembrook, Beaconsfield, Beaconsfield Upper, Avonsleigh, Mt Burnett, Guys Hill, Maryknoll, Clematis, Menzies Creek, Pakenham Upper and going across the Yarra Ranges. In total, the funding would have provided for 110 kilometres of unsealed roads being sealed in the Cardinia Shire and 187 in the Yarra Ranges. This goes on top of scrapping $110 million for the Wellington Road upgrade, a vital section of road which needed to be upgraded for those residents to escape in the event of a bushfire, and it's already such a dangerous road.

I make the point that on 3 May 2019 former Labor opposition leader Bill Shorten and Labor candidate Simon Curtis said in the Star Mailnewspaper article titled 'Bipartisan funding for roads' that $110 million would go towards upgrades to Wellington Road, and $300 million would go to sealing roads in the Dandenong Ranges and the surrounding suburbs. It is an absolute disgrace that the hills are being targeted by Labor. Take them out of the state seat of Monbulk. Put a Liberal there.

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