Mr PALLAS (Tarneit) —  I rise  to speak  again on  the matter  of transport infrastructure in the city of Wyndham, which I have done on  six occasions  over the past 18 months, and note that I continue to get no substantive response from the Baillieu government. Wyndham’s road  and  public transport infrastructure is in  dire need  of attention.  Wyndham City Council has released a report on road and traffic issues outlining the many issues that need attention  and  has  also helpfully  outlined  which  projects   are   the  responsibility  of  the  state government, not the local  council and certainly not the federal government. The previous government spent $25 million a year on Wyndham’s roads during its final four years in office, while this government has spent nothing. Not one dollar of new capital road spending has been allocated to the fastest growing community in Australia.

Ensuring that  infrastructure keeps up  with rapid growth takes constant effort, and  this government’s  indolence  is  causing  my  community  to  fall  behind. Disingenuous  requests  for  federal  funding to  construct  half of  a  diamond interchange at Sneydes Road or claiming standard Transport  Accident  Commission maintenance will not cut it. There  is  a lot at stake here. I  recently  held a community jobs forum where a number of Wyndham community  education and business leaders discussed in detail their ideas for  economic development and employment generation.  Without  infrastructure and connection to jobs  my  community  will suffer.  We  also  need road and rail grade separations  at  Cherry  Street  and Hoppers.

See Tim’s speech in Hansard here.