Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

You never funded it. In fact, I will happily stand there and bring the letter, signed by Alan Tudge, that said he is taking away the funding for the Hume Highway. I look forward to the member for Wannon standing up and having to apologise to the House because he's misleading once again. You couldn't fund jack-all. You couldn't deliver a pizza. You could deliver a press release, but that was about it. You cut Black Spot funding in your last government. You cut infrastructure to regional and growing communities across Victoria. Whether it was their mistruths in the election campaigns about the Hume Highway or the Wallan ramps, everything was cut. Nothing was done. They didn't even want to deliver on Yan Yean Road. That left people in McEwen—whether it be Mernda, Wallan, Whittlesea, Kilmore or Gisborne—with deteriorating roads and dangerous driving conditions.

The only service they ever gave was lip service, because the now-opposition didn't spend a single penny on road maintenance. Where was the member for Wannon's outrage when his government cut and froze road funding. He didn't care about road safety in Victoria. This is just a political stunt to fill in time and hide the fact that they did absolutely nothing for nine years. He stands here with his manufactured outrage despite the Albanese Labor government increasing funding to $460 million, with a commitment for funding for black spots to increase every year. Only a Labor government can be trusted to protect the upgrade of Victorian roads and to give the people of McEwen a fair go.

The Albanese Labor government will make $4.4 billion available under the federal Roads to Recovery Program over the next five years. Under this program, Victoria will receive $895 million over five years. Before you get your calculator out, I'll save you time. That's $368 million more than Victorians will receive under than they would have received had we unfortunately kept Morrison as Prime Minister. When it comes to finding, as our veterans found out, those opposite only fund things that they think is a political advantage. That is why they never funded the Calder Highway, the Hume Highway and Watson Street.

The Albanese Labor government has shown its commitment by going on with projects we need in our community, like the completion of the upgrades to Bridge Inn Road in Mernda. It was finished well ahead of time because of governments working together and getting things done. We have made a commitment in this year's budget for an extra $437 million to the Suburban Roads Upgrade program. When the coalition was in government, they did the western one and the eastern one, but then they put the north and south together and only funded half of it. We came and fixed it. Of course, the silence is an acknowledgement that it was badly handled by the former government. We also have the Camerons Lane interchange in Beveridge, with the Albanese Labor government committing $900 million to get this done because it's 20,000 jobs and it's fixing up the Inland Rail, which they absolutely destroyed. It's great to have the Prime Minister and the minister for infrastructure talking about these projects and getting them done.

In recent weeks, we were joined at Wallan to discuss the Watson Street interchange, a project to ensure faster and safer access to the Hume Highway. Where was the $50 million promised by the former government? We know that the former deputy prime minister, Michael McCormack, wanted to fund it, but then he got rolled by his own back lot, and the money disappeared, so much so that Minister Tudge took the money out of the complex car park scheme and sent a press release saying, 'Oh, we're going to fund it.' But guess what? When we got there, the cupboard was bare, and Tehan and co had none—no money anywhere for road projects in our area. So I say to the member for Wannon: you should be sticking up for our state of Victoria. Do you remember what happened to your mate Joshie who attacked Victoria? You should stick up for Victoria and try and get things done. You sat there in cabinet eating your triangle sandwiches and having your cups of tea and did not support Victorians. You should be ashamed!

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