Adam Bandt (Melbourne, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I call on the Prime Minister to wean himself off his unhealthy addiction to toll roads. On 6 February, the Prime Minister appeared in Melbourne, saying that he and his government would do 'whatever they humanly can' to get the East West toll road built. What an astounding thing to say. How ludicrous that the Prime Minister would return this year to Melbourne and declare that he and his government would try to continue to push the East West tollway. He himself declared that the Victorian election, an election that saw a first-term Liberal government turfed out and a record number of Greens MPs elected into parliament, a 'referendum on the East West Link'. Victorians knew then and they know now that the East West toll road is a dumb idea that will drain the public purse.

The afternoon after the Prime Minister appeared in Melbourne, I launched a petition calling on him to ditch the East West toll road. Within hours, hundreds of people had signed the petition and shared it with their family and friends. And now 6,251 people have added their names.

I call on the Prime Minister: listen to the 6,251 people who have signed this petition and to the millions of Victorians who turfed out the state Liberal government and rejected your dud plan for an East West toll road. Prime Minister, ditch the East West tollway once and for all and divert the $3 billion in federal money into projects that will really clear congestion, improve productivity and lower pollution. Invest that money into clean, fast and affordable public transport for Melbourne.