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

Driving through my electorate of Casey, you'd be forgiven for forgetting that you're within 100 kilometres of Melbourne. Our community is made up of hundreds of kilometres of unsealed roads, from Seville to Belgrave, from Wandin to Warburton, from Mount Evelyn to Healesville and every town in between.

This is why the former Liberal government committed $150 million to seal 150 kilometres of dirt roads throughout the Casey electorate. Many roads were sealed through our project, directly improving the lives of thousands of residents through safer roads, reduced dust and cleaner air, and allowing emergency services ease of access to some of our most remote areas.

It was actually a project that the then Labor shadow minister for infrastructure—none other than the now Prime Minister—committed to in the 2019 election, stating that it would 'build the safe roads our community needs'. That was until the Prime Minister and his Labor government came along and ripped up the funding in the 2022 budget.

I've been contacted by residents of all ages, including primary-aged children, about the importance of sealing roads in our community. They want to get home safely. School students want to be able to walk to school without inhaling dust. Our emergency services need sealed roads to access every inch of our community in an emergency.

I've written to Prime Minister Albanese about this, but I haven't received a response. So, once again, I call on the Albanese Labor government to reinstate the funding that they cut from our community.

Road sealing isn't the only project in our community that Labor would like to rip up. They've now put the brakes on the long-overdue upgrade to the Killara Road and Maroondah Highway at Coldstream, and the Canterbury Road upgrades, including at the congested Montrose roundabout. With a new estate going up in Coldstream, and a pump bike track across the busy highway, the installation of traffic lights at Killara Road could not be more crucial. Not only have we seen too many accidents and fatalities at this intersection, but also the Coldstream CFA can't get out of their station and respond to emergencies.

In addition to this, Labor is considering cutting the funds to the Canterbury Road and Montrose roundabout upgrades. My constituents are sick and tired of sitting in traffic on their daily commute. Canterbury Road is one of the main roads connecting my community to Melbourne. We must address this and the traffic bottleneck at Montrose roundabout, for the safety of all drivers.

Labor can't keep ripping up road safety projects in our community. I urge the Labor government to get on with these projects and stop wasting their time on reviews.