Chris Crewther (Dunkley, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today in response to statements made in the state parliament by the member for Frankston, Mr Paul Edbrooke, about both me and the small-business minister. Mr Edbrooke, instead of listening to Young Street precinct traders, had the nerve to get up in state parliament and claim that only one shop had closed in the precinct due to the recent, delayed Young Street works. He claimed that the traders, traders' advocates and I were lying when we noted the 26 precinct businesses that have had to close their doors because of the Young Street precinct works. He also made a further false statement, saying that there are only 35 businesses in Young Street and that I, therefore, am saying that over 75 per cent of those local businesses have closed. This is a nonsense, because he is continuing to ignore the many businesses in the side streets off Young Street that have also suffered and closed. He is misleading the state parliament. He asked us to release the names of the 26 traders in Young Street precinct that have closed their doors. We will do so one by one, so the member for Frankston can listen to the traders instead of Liberal members. We already know about Don Cristiano and his Leatherworks. Now I will give a story about Jenna Louise. She says, 'In June this year I had to close my salon doors due to the ongoing delays. While my salon was located on Beach Street, Frankston, the effects devastated my business. With the works happening on Young Street the buses were relocated to three locations, with one of them being Beach Street. There was almost no consultation with any of the owners along Beach Street about the impact of the buses— (Time expired)