Thursday, 8 February 2024

 David SOUTHWICK (Caulfield) (17:08): (511) My adjournment tonight is for the Minister for Transport Infrastructure, and the action that I seek is for the minister to meet with local residents of the QueenSAVEtrees group to discuss an alternative option for the proposed Queens Avenue, East Caulfield, redevelopment. Back in November 2023 the Queens Avenue redevelopment, which included the removal of the Neerim Road level crossing, had meant that along Queens Avenue the government would look at building a new bike lane. The details were unclear as to what that would mean, but we soon found out that 250 magnificent trees some 100 years old would be removed as part of this process. A number of the residents, as you could imagine, were in absolute uproar over this. They contacted my office and we wrote to the minister, and over summer there was real angst about these trees being cut down.

I am pleased that with the amount of community activism by many of my local residents there was a stay of execution for these trees. 3AW, the Age – a number of media outlets – ran the story. We were told that there would be consultation and the government would come back with another alternative. I genuinely hope for this. I know that the local council, the Glen Eira council, were presented with effectively three options: option 1, remove the 250 magnificent trees some 10 metres high and 100 ‍years old; option 2, remove about 20 trees but take out a number of car parks along Queens Avenue; or number 3, do nothing, and then the minister would choose option 1 or option 2. Obviously that was not suitable to many of our local residents. We had meetings with council, and I am pleased to say that on Tuesday just gone council decided to vote against two options and it has asked the minister to go back to the drawing board.

I genuinely call on the minister today to meet with local residents, to meet with the City of Glen Eira and to work out an option that is suitable, that is going to give bike use and that is going to give those trees the ability to stay in their natural habitat like they should so that ultimately we can all be winners. If we cannot do that, then leave it as it is. In a cost-of-living crisis the last thing that we want is to spend money when we do not need to, and this is a classic example. If we are removing level crossings, which is a good idea, we should not just have to build something that nobody wants in terms of additional bike lanes and to take down these trees. I genuinely say to the minister: this is not political. Come down. I will organise it. You can have a cup of coffee in my office, meet with the local residents and meet with the council members and the mayor. Let us get a solution that is suitable for the residents of Glen Eira.