Mr PALLAS (Werribee) (09:38:01): I rise to share with the house some very exciting news for the great electorate of Werribee and the western suburbs. As members know, this government is getting on with the job of removing level crossings across Melbourne.

We are removing 75 level crossings, with 29 already gone for good. I am very excited to say that among those level crossings to be removed are the ones at Old Geelong Road in Hoppers Crossing, Cherry Street in Werribee and Werribee Street in Werribee, and of course the Member for Tarneit is very excited about all of those removals as well. Works on these three level crossings are being fast-tracked so that the metro line in Werribee will be free of all level crossings by 2022.

In the past month the Level Crossing Removal Project team has held consultations in Werribee about the project. It was fantastic to see Werribee residents take advantage of these consultations and to see how thrilled they were about the benefits the removal of these level crossings will bring to the area. Although we are getting rid of the level crossing at Hoppers Crossing, we will continue to honour its history. The namesake of Hoppers Crossing is Elizabeth Hopper, one of the very few female railway employees in Victoria in the late 1800s. Every day she would manually open and shut the boom gates by the rail line so that trains could pass and cars could cross the line safely. It was Elizabeth who made sure that the only route through Skeleton Creek remained connected— (Time expired)