Jason Wood (La Trobe, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

For many constituents in my electorate of La Trobe, one of the great frustrations we face is being stuck in traffic. I cannot think of something more frustrating, actually, especially every day if you are travelling to work, to the CBD on the Monash Freeway. Over the last three weeks I have surveyed my electorate with regard to the Monash and other transport issues. I knew the residents of La Trobe were very passionate about something happening about the Monash and the upgrade.

I will give a bit of background on the Monash and why we are in this situation. It goes back many years, when we had a state Labor government. I think the transport minister was Peter Batchelor. He announced, he boasted, that the Monash Freeway had been delivered early and under budget. But they actually cheated a little bit because they cut off one lane to save time and money. So that has left us in an awful situation where everyday fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, children, residents of La Trobe, are stuck on the Monash.

The growth in this part of Victoria is incredible. For those who know the area, they know that Soldiers Road and Clyde Road every morning and every afternoon during peak hour are, in a term, chockers with traffic. Every day residents need to travel to the CBD, including those from Narre Warren, Narre Warren North, Narre Warren South, Berwick, Beaconsfield, Officer—all these are big, big growth corridors or growing suburbs—and right across to Emerald, Cockatoo, Gembrook and up through the Dandenong Ranges. The electorate of La Trobe is growing very rapidly, and also the neighbouring electorate of McMillan, which also uses the Monash, going through the Pakenham way.

The City of Casey and Cardinia Shire has a population of 378,000, and that is expected to grow to 667,000. In Cardinia the current population sits at just over 90,000. In 20 years time this will increase by 93 per cent. That population will increase by 2036 to over 174,000. The city of Casey is one of Australia's fastest growing regions. Its current population is 288,000. It is the third fastest growing municipality in Victoria and the eighth fastest growing municipality in Australia. The projected growth of the City of Casey by 2041 is 492,000. When these figures are combined, including suburbs covering the Dandenong Ranges in the council municipalities of the Yarra Ranges and Knox, it is incredible how much growth there will be in the future. That is why I have been so passionate. I have spoken about the Monash Freeway so many times and raised it with the former Prime Minister and the current Prime Minister, Mr Turnbull, who I know through our conversations has a very strong interest in doing something about the Monash.

Each day from the city of Casey over 72,000 residents use the Monash, of which 46,000 travel towards the CBD and 1,300 of those travel further to the western suburbs. That is from one council alone. Like I said, if you include Cardinia Shire, Yarra Ranges and Knox, it is incredible how much traffic congestion there will be in the future if nothing happens. We need to reduce the congestion now. We need to reduce the traffic delays and get La Trobe and the south-eastern corridor of Victoria moving again.

The coalition government is working towards this. As I said, I have had conversations with the Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull. He understands my concerns. I also thank my federal colleagues, in particular the member for Aston, Alan Tudge, whose constituents also use the Monash; Russell Broadbent from McMillan; Tony Smith from Casey; Michael Sukkar from Deakin and Bruce Billson from Dunkley—and a special thanks to Minister Greg Hunt, who also understands why the Monash Freeway is so important to the outer eastern suburbs and also to Victoria. The state Labor government, under Daniel Andrews, have been very focussed on the western side of town and the Western Distributor. I have no issue with the Western Distributor. However, it cannot be to the peril of residents in the south-eastern suburbs of Victoria, especially my electorate of La Trobe. That is just unfair.

The Monash Freeway upgrade is a tangible solution, creating an extra lane from the space in the central median strip; converting emergency lanes into fully operational lanes—the experts tell me emergency lanes are a thing of the past, because once a car or truck breaks down in the outer lane then basically that lane cannot be used until the truck or car is moved; that is why we can use current emergency lanes—increasing entry ramp management, with signalling systems and longer ramps; and managing overhead roadway signals, providing direction to drivers about closed lanes, merging needs, changed speed restrictions and advised traffic conditions. Our roads need to be smarter. Managed roadways, experts tell me, are the way to go—opening more inbound lanes during morning peaks and opening more outbound lanes during the evening peaks. I am proud to be in a team that is doing something about this.

I also congratulate the Treasurer, Scott Morrison, who wrote a letter recently to the state Treasurer of the Labor government in Victoria, Mr Tim Pallas, about allowing the $1.5 billion of federal funding which had been committed to the East West Link—we are very committed to that project, but we cannot have the money sitting there forever—to be used by the state government, providing it is for projects agreed to by the federal government. In that letter the Treasurer specifically mentioned that the Monash is a key project.

To the residents of La Trobe: I will not give up on the Monash. That is why I have raised the Monash in parliament so many times. That is why I conducted a survey in my electorate to ensure I had the voice of my whole electorate to support the upgrade of the Monash and also to send a very clear message to the state Labor government and Daniel Andrews that we must fund this project jointly, because the residents in La Trobe and the outer suburbs of Melbourne deserve better. No longer should they have to put up with being stuck in traffic day after day. The reason I have put my hand up to ensure the Monash Freeway is a major priority is because in politics it is quite easy sometimes to say, 'It is someone else's responsibility.' I could have said, 'Let's let the state government worry about this,' when residents contacted me saying it is a state government issue—but, no. My federal counterparts and I are taking up the challenge, but we need the state Labor government to get on board.

That also brings me to other issues raised in the survey. Residents in La Trobe are concerned about public transport. I support federal funding for public transport, and I always have. Another issue raised, which is also linked very closely with the Monash, is congestion on the Clyde Road and congestion at the Beaconsfield exit points, which is otherwise known as the diamond exchange. If the diamond exchange had on and off ramps linking it to O'Shea Road, that would take a mighty burden of traffic away from Clyde Road during peak hour. Also, an extension of Thompsons Road and O'Shea Road would create an opening for traffic between La Trobe, McMillan and also Holt. These projects alone could open up local employment opportunities.

In closing, I repeat that I am very focused on, and committed and dedicated to, ensuring that the Monash Freeway is upgraded and that it is upgraded not as a short-term fix but as a long-term fix for all residents in La Trobe, to ensure that people are not wasting their time stuck in traffic but are actually spending more time at home with their families.

Pat Conroy (Charlton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time for the grievance debate has expired. The debate is interrupted in accordance with standing order 192B. The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.