Wednesday, 27 November 2024

Department of Transport and Planning

Report 2023–24

Wendy LOVELL (Northern Victoria) (17:46): I rise to speak on the Department of Transport and Planning annual report for 2023–24. In particular I would like to talk about the neglect of road infrastructure and planning for roads in the Yan Yean electorate. The government has absolutely failed the people of Donnybrook and Kalkallo in particular with its failure to actually duplicate Donnybrook Road. Donnybrook Road is a single lane on the eastern side of the Hume Freeway. On the western side in the area that was developed by the Liberals there is a beautiful four-lane major road. On the eastern side under Labor there is a single carriageway – a country lane. It is absolutely shocking. There is a single-lane flyover over the Hume Freeway which has caused absolute traffic chaos. It is the only entry and exit point for all of the new estates that have gone in along Donnybrook Road. A couple of weeks ago we had a truck accident there that had people cut off from their homes for hours at a time. But the duplication of Donnybrook Road is just one of the failures that goes with the roads in that area.

As I said, it is the only entry and exit point. The government actually did a master plan for Donnybrook and Woodstock in 2017. That included two other east–west connector roads at Cameron Street and Gunns Gully Road, neither of which has been constructed, which means that Donnybrook Road is that single entry and exit point. Mr Mulholland and I have been raising for weeks and months now the problems in Donnybrook. And what has been the government’s response? What is their answer to fixing traffic congestion for the residents there? What they have done is reduce the speed limit on the Hume Freeway to 80 k’s at the turn off to Donnybrook Road. They think this is going to improve safety. No, it is not. This is their answer to everything. When there are potholes, reduce the speed. When the road surface is bad, reduce the speed. They must be spending a fortune on speed reduction signs because they are all over the state.

They have reduced the speed to 80 k’s. A lot of people used to go on to Cameron Street where the Caltex service station is in Kalkallo and do a U-turn because it did allow you to get onto Donnybrook Road a little bit quicker by turning left on the other side of the road. Now they have also banned U-turns at Cameron Street, so people are going to be forced to wait even longer at that exit point off the Hume Freeway and onto Donnybrook Road. I came through last Friday night and had the need to go along Donnybrook Road. It was 7:25 pm when I turned off the Hume Freeway. It was still bumper to bumper along that road and across the flyover and backed up onto the freeway. It is an absolute disgrace, and this government should hang their heads in shame. Their answer is not a solution. They need to build Cameron Street and Gunns Gully Road right through to Merriang Road and give these residents a genuine second entry and exit point to their estates.

We can also talk about Yan Yean Road stage 2. The government keeps saying, ‘Oh, we’ve funded it. It’s happening,’ but we are yet to see any action. It is still in the planning stage. There is a shopping centre that is going to be completely cut off by the way that the government are going to do the intersection surrounding that shopping centre. The traders in that centre – I have met with them – are absolutely distraught about what is going to happen to their businesses, because this government cannot get their planning right on roads and cannot get the timing right on actually building those roads. They are failing Victorians left, right and centre. Yan Yean Road stage 2 is a further disgrace because people are actually being injured on that road. In April a young man was struck by a car. He was walking along the narrow Yan Yean Road on his way to the Yarrambat Golf Club. He spent nine weeks in a coma and is on a long journey to recovery, all because this government will not invest in the infrastructure that is necessary to support the growth that is going on in the Yan Yean electorate. The member for Yan Yean should be held accountable. She should resign over these roads.