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

I would like to congratulate the Victorian government on their announcement last Thursday that they will invest between $2 billion and $2.5 billion in the Dandenong railway line, including the removal of the level crossings at Koornang Road, Carnegie, and Murrumbeena Road, Murrumbeena, and the preparation for the removal of the crossings at Grange Road, Carnegie, and Poath Road, Murrumbeena.

At peak times, level crossing closures delay all cars, trucks and buses and constrain the rail operator's capacity to increase services along the entire Dandenong railway line. The regular closure of these level crossings is, hands down, the biggest issue that concerns my constituents in Carnegie and Murrumbeena, with delays affecting their key decisions of where to shop, where their children go to school and child care and how to access work.

To highlight the problem I have, firstly, worked with the community in order to present a petition in this place with over 1,151 signatures. I have had a number of meetings with Mr Terry Mulder, the Victorian Minister for Public Transport and Minister for Roads, and Ms Georgie Crozier MLC, member for the Southern Metropolitan region. I have worked with key stakeholders such as the RACV, the Committee for Melbourne and Monash councillor Theo Zographos, regarding the need to invest in the Dandenong railway line.

I would like to thank residents for supporting the petition and for their feedback at my regular mobile office meetings, in my surveys or at my Carnegie community forum. I have also had regular discussions with the Carnegie Traders Association on the issue of level crossings, and their support has been vital in enabling me to represent the community's concerns at every opportunity.