Tuesday, 1 April 2025

VicTrack

Wayne FARNHAM (Narracan) (19:22): (1099) My adjournment this evening is for the Minister for Transport Infrastructure, and the action I seek is that the minister instruct VicTrack to work with developers rather than being obstructive, belligerent and just plain uncooperative. I brought this up in a constituency question last sitting week. I have got an issue with VicTrack. A developer wanted to do a $20 million development, a hotel in Drouin, that was going to employ 200 people, and he wanted access to VicTrack land to his car park, and they knocked it back. That is 200 jobs gone out of my area. Now this is happening again. I have another development group. Acuity Development Group are going to invest $300 million into Warragul. That is more than what this government has invested in my area over the last decade. But the common thread is VicTrack. VicTrack are belligerent. They will not sit down.

One development they are doing is worth $110 million. Every other department likes it – Regional Development Victoria, Development Victoria, the development facilitation program, the local council and Invest Victoria all support this project – except VicTrack. VicTrack will not even come to the table to have a conversation. This project puts into the local economy $90 million a year, creating 1000 ‍indirect jobs and 700 direct jobs. That is a massive boost to this local economy, and I am getting sick and tired of how this government works or how the department works.

When I was in business, the dog wagged the tail – the tail did not wag the dog. I need the minister to intervene with VicTrack – drag them, kicking and screaming if she has to, to the table to start to talk to developers. They are trying to do the right thing. Local councils are on board and every other department is on board, but VicTrack is absolutely belligerent in the way it deals with the community and developers. To see this amount of investment sitting on the table but not being done in my community is heartbreaking. At some point in time these investors will walk away. They will go to Queensland or they will go somewhere else. VicTrack needs to get on board so I can create jobs in my local community or the developers can create jobs and create $90 million of economic impact into my local community. It is not too much to ask.