Alan Tudge (Aston, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The single biggest issue that locals in my electorate raise with me is traffic congestion. We've had a reprieve during the lockdown years, but now it's almost as bad as ever. I've made local infrastructure my top priority locally over the last few years, and together we've achieved a lot. The Henderson Road bridge, the Lewis Road traffic lights, the Blackwood Park Road bridge and the widening of the Monash, to name a few, have now been delivered. But there are many others that I secured funding for that are still waiting to be built by the state Labor government. This includes $130 million for the Dorset Road extension and the Napoleon Road duplication, $475 million for a public transport connection to Rowville and $35 million for more car parking at Boronia and Ferntree Gully stations. Today I call on the Albanese government to work with Labor colleagues in Victoria and get these projects done. The money for these projects is there. It's locked in the federal budget. My message is: don't delay these projects any longer. People in the outer-east deserve good infrastructure as much as they do in the western suburbs, but we've not been getting the same priority from Labor. It is time to stop playing games, stop patching potholes and start building the infrastructure that is planned, that is budgeted and that is desperately needed.