Tuesday, 30 April 2024

Ministers statements: North East Link

Danny PEARSON (Essendon – Minister for Transport Infrastructure, Minister for the Suburban Rail Loop, Assistant Treasurer, Minister for WorkSafe and the TAC) (14:15): I rise to update the house on how we are getting on and delivering the North East Link, the missing link in our freeway network. Today I was delighted to join the Premier as well as the Minister for Creative Industries and visit the tunnel-boring machine launch site in Watsonia, where we are in the final stages of assembling the TBMs. Starting from the middle of this year, the TBMs will dig the longest rail tunnels in Victoria so we can slash travel times across the north-east and, more importantly, take 15,000 trucks off local roads. As part of the North East Link, the Allan Labor government will complete the M80 ring-road and deliver a massive overhaul to the Eastern Freeway, which will be the single biggest overhaul of the Eastern Freeway since the 1970s, when it opened.

This project will be an absolute game changer for residents and businesses across Melbourne. It will change the way people and goods move across our state and take pressure off the rest of our freeway network. For example, for a family in Bayswater, what this means is it will save 35 minutes and 18 ‍sets of traffic lights off a trip to the airport. For a small business in Dandenong, which I know the Minister for Government Services is thrilled about, it will mean less congestion on the M1 for a trip to the city and high-speed access to the Melbourne Market. It will save 11 minutes off a trip to Melbourne University from Box Hill, which I know the member for Box Hill is thrilled about. It will mean a parent living on Rosanna Road in the great electorate of Ivanhoe can get to school drop-offs without trucks screaming past their driveway. It will mean better public transport for people in the member for Bulleen’s electorate, thanks to the dedicated eastern busway and the new park-and-ride in Bulleen, which celebrates its first birthday today, which is fantastic. Already more than 5000 dedicated and highly skilled workers are working on this project, and we are creating 12,000 direct jobs across the life of the project.

Let us be clear: this is the missing link that has been the dotted line on the Melway for a generation, and the Allan Labor government is making it a reality. While those opposite never delivered a thing in four years, we are getting on and delivering the infrastructure – (Time expired)