Wednesday, 11 May 2022

Adjournment

Ms STITT (Western Metropolitan—Minister for Workplace Safety, Minister for Early Childhood) (17:31): I move:

That the house do now adjourn.

Kialla West Primary School pedestrian crossing

Ms LOVELL (Northern Victoria) (17:31): (1902) My adjournment matter is directed to the Minister for Roads and Road Safety. Again it concerns the urgently needed safety upgrade of the school crossing at the Kialla West Primary School. The action that I seek from the minister is to provide a progress report regarding the upgrade of the Kialla West Primary School crossing, including the results of any assessment of the site regarding the impact on the avenue of honour memorial trees of any works, a time line on when detailed plans for the project will be completed and forwarded to Heritage Victoria for consideration and, finally, when construction of this badly needed upgrade will be funded and commenced.

Members in this place and indeed the minister himself will be aware of my continued advocacy to upgrade the dangerous pedestrian crossing at Kialla West Primary School that crosses the Goulburn Valley Highway. In fact this is my 12th contribution on this issue, and still the local community wait for meaningful change. The horrific two-vehicle collision at the crossing in September 2018, which badly injured four members of a school family, highlighted the dangers of the crossing to the local community. The debilitating injuries sustained by the youngest child will be lifelong, and the impact of the collision remains in the heart of every student, teacher and parent at the school. While some small safety improvements were made at the school after the collision, the crossing itself remains just as dangerous for students, staff, parents and motorists as it did on that terrible day in 2018. Both the school and the Greater Shepparton council have conveyed their preferences for a pedestrian underpass to be built under the GV Highway to make students safe once and for all.

In July 2021 Regional Roads Victoria informed the school of the need to investigate the project’s impact on the Heritage Victoria listed avenue of honour trees which make up the Calder Woodburn Memorial Avenue. Delays on site assessments were blamed on COVID restrictions, and the minister indicated to me in a response in December 2021 that with restrictions lifted, inspections would be carried out and designs submitted to Heritage Victoria for consideration. Nearly five months have passed, and the Kialla West school council have received no communication regarding the results of these inspections or the status of plans for the pedestrian underpass. The council has written to RRV requesting a full update on the project, and I call on the minister to provide a full update on the progress to the Kialla West Primary School community. It is totally unacceptable that the government is no closer to upgrading this crossing almost four years after the horrific accident that badly injured four members of a school family.