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

I have some fantastic news. The Beaconsfield Interchange will finally be underway this year, together with the O'Shea Road extension. This will open up Minta Farm, which will create 10,000 jobs. Part of this package will include the extension of the Monash Freeway down to Cardinia Road and up to Warrigal Road. We previously made this announcement with the Prime Minister in March 2016. The federal funding was left over, sadly, from the East West Link project. The great news—after many petitions and speeches in parliament, and lots of media attention—is that the state Labor government under Daniel Andrews has finally agreed to use that money.

This is such an important project, which my side of the House has been so passionate about. It is going to relieve travel times for people travelling into the CBD. There will be 36 kilometres of new lanes along the Monash Freeway. This is absolutely fantastic news. The Beaconsfield Interchange works will start this year, together with the extension of O'Shea Road, plus the Monash going down to Cardinia Road and up to Warrigal Road. It will create local jobs and ease traffic congestion, including on Clyde Road.