Tuesday, 19 March 2024

Wallan road infrastructure

Evan MULHOLLAND (Northern Metropolitan) (18:45): (790) My adjournment is directed to the Minister for Transport and Infrastructure, and it concerns the Wallan diamond ramps. I seek the action of the minister to provide an update as to when the business case for the Watson Street interchange in Wallan will be released and update my community on the progress of the Wallan diamond ramps. Major Road Projects Victoria have consistently stated that the business case will be released and completed by early 2024. We are now in mid-March with no sign of a business case.

In 2019 the Labor federal member for McEwen claimed credit for the federal coalition government’s $50 million budget commitment for the Wallan diamond, but since then he has consistently peddled falsehoods that this $50 million has been missing and held up the state government getting on with the project, despite the state government only making an election commitment with a dollar value in November 2022. The state government never actually provided a dollar during that period or undertook the necessary upgrades to Watson Street that were required.

We now see that Major Road Projects Victoria have contradicted the falsehoods of the Labor federal member for McEwen and have acknowledged the 2019 contribution of $50 million from the former federal coalition government. So that is settled. But if you read the fine print in their documentation, it says that their commitment of $130 million is inclusive of the federal government’s $50 million contribution. We never once saw Labor before the election state that their contribution was only $80 million for this project. In fact they had big signs and billboards and made a big deal in the media about the contribution being $130 million. The MRPV have contradicted this – an absolute lie by the Labor Party, who were clearly penny-pinching on projects. I think it is fair to say this project would never have been on the radar for Labor without the effort of my colleague Mr Welch, who was our candidate for McEwen and Yan Yean. As I have said before, I was shocked to see in the Age that five sources inside the government and construction industry have said that the government was forcing a rethink of projects that were in the planning stage, saying they only had the money to do the North East Link and the Suburban Rail Loop. It is deeply concerning for many in the Wallan community who want the state government to get on with the job and build the Wallan diamond ramps.

I seek the action of the minister to explain why the government promised $130 million when it is delivering only $80 million, to reassure my community that there will be no delays to the ramps and to release the business case and provide a time line for construction and completion of this very important project.