Wednesday, 28 August 2024

Adjournment

Montrose intersection upgrade

Bridget VALLENCE (Evelyn) (19:00): (801) The Montrose community has endured significant disruption as a result of the Montrose intersection upgrade, so the action I seek from the Minister for Roads and Road Safety is that she provide a detailed project timeline covering the remaining stages of works and expected completion date for the project. Given the community was told originally these works would take 12 months, residents and small businesses are desperate to know if this timeline will be met, which would be around December this year or January 2025, and what they can expect with the remaining stages of works. While many residents in Montrose and surrounds wanted the intersection upgraded to address safety and traffic congestion, no resident is content with the extraordinarily long project timeline of 12 months as outlined by the state government’s Department of Transport and Planning or the severity and extent of the disruption to remove a roundabout and replace it with a signalled intersection.

The toll it has taken on residents and small businesses in Montrose is immense. Small businesses have suffered significant financial losses, and the state government has so far refused to compensate them. It has been hard for residents to access their homes or the Montrose Recreation Reserve for football and netball. On one occasion recently at a football match I was at at Montrose Recreation Reserve, a player was badly injured and the ambulance struggled to access the footy ground in a timely way because of the massive traffic disruptions due to the roadworks.

The Montrose CFA fire brigade have been very patient, but the disruption right outside their fire station certainly has impacted volunteer firefighters’ ability to access the station and their ability to get the truck out to attend emergencies, whether that be fires, storms or road trauma.

Residents were told by the department of transport and its contractor that no roads would be closed during the course of the project works, and yet Montrose Road was closed. The communication from the Labor government’s department of transport has been sporadic at best, with local residents and stakeholder reference group members having to chase up meeting minutes and meeting dates, which is totally unacceptable. The state government run stakeholder meetings have been exclusive, seeking to shut down local voices, and have been lacking in key detail about the upcoming stages of work, the nature of the works yet to be completed, when each stage of work is expected to be completed and if there will be any greater severity of disruption or further road closures.

My community understands there may be issues with severe rain or storms from time to time, but my community also has a reasonable expectation that the state government and its department of transport will be transparent and forthcoming with a fully detailed project timeline for the remaining stages of works and will provide as much detail as possible about when this project will be completed for the Montrose community.