Aaron Violi (Casey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My community in Casey has been left devastated by the Albanese government's decision to break their promise on the roads for community funding in my electorate. This was $150 million to seal 150 kilometres of road. It had bipartisan support when it was announced in 2019. The government are not going to honour the commitment that they made and are breaking their promise. It has left my community devastated. I have been inundated with messages and so has the minister. I note some frustration from my constituents that she has chosen not to reply to them at this stage. I hope she does.

One of the great honours we have in this House is to be a voice for our constituents. Tonight I want to share the voice of Holly, who wrote to me and her local council just last week about what this decision by this government means to her. These are Holly's words, and I thank her parents for their permission to share her story. She said: 'Dear council and government: hi, my name is Holly and I'm nine years old and in grade 3. I live on Selby-Aura Road. I think we should seal Selby-Aura Road and Aura Vale Road because, firstly, it is really bad if you breathe in the dust, especially if you have asthma. Secondly, dust makes you cough a lot and, if there is more coughing, it means more spreading germs like COVID-19. Finally, I think it would be a lot more safe to drive on and that way me and my friends can walk safely to school without having to worry about the dust. So those are my reasons why I think they should be sealed. I actually think all dusty roads should be sealed, but lots of people who live on these roads go to my school, which is an awesome school, and some walk to school like me. I don't think they want to breathe dust, too. From Holly.'

Holly, thank you for sharing your words. I'm going to continue to advocate to this government that they reinstate that funding in the upcoming budget because you've shown the impact that these roads have on our local residents. It is not just you that thinks that it would improve safety. The then shadow minister at the time, the now Prime Minister Albanese, when he announced his support for this 10-year funding program in 2019 said that it would improve the safety of residents in my electorate of Casey. The department were asked last December whether the sealing of these roads would improve safety for our community, and they confirmed that it would improve safety for our residents. So we have a Prime Minister and a minister that committed to this funding. They've broken their word. They know that it would increase safety. There are clearly health benefits. Holly sums it up so well, but many residents talk about the health impacts on them from these roads not being sealed.

I was fortunate to have the shadow minister, Senator Bridget McKenzie, with me in Mount Evelyn. We heard from the residents on Joy Avenue about their concerns. All through Mount Evelyn we heard concerns about people using those roads as through roads, the safety dangers to them from accidents and the dust that impacts on their lives and the lives of their children and grandchildren. We also had a roundtable with the Kallista Flood Watch Group. They have been devastated by floods and storms washing gravel into the drains, clogging the drains, flooding houses and making it unsafe for the residents in their houses. Every time there is a downpour, one of the impacts of that—and this is also an impact of these roads not being sealed—that they all talked about was the mental health impact and the anguish they have every time there is a storm and every time the radar predicts a storm. There was one resident who was on holidays down on the Mornington Peninsula when he got notification of a storm warning. He had to come back to Kallista to his house to make sure that he could protect it. In the 21st century, we shouldn't have that.

There's an easy solution—we know the solution: it's to seal the roads and improve the drainage. The money was committed, the projects were under way. Council were scoping the works for this Kallista road in particular. They were ready to go, and this decision has destroyed that hope for those residents. But I will continue to fight, and I urge the government and Minister King to admit that she has made a mistake and to reinstate the funding in the May budget so we can continue to improve the lives of the residents of Casey, so emergency services can get in and help those that need them, and so residents can go about their business in a safe manner.