Aaron Violi (Casey, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Before I spend some time talking about the broken promises of this Albanese government, particularly in my electorate of Casey, I would remind those opposite and especially my friend the member for Robertson, who I do like and respect—I notice that he went with the $1 trillion debt claim. I expect that from the Prime Minister and the Treasurer, but, and I know I've spoken to him about it before, the budget papers are very clear: it's $514 billion in net debt. It's in the papers. It would be nice if we could stick to facts in these discussions.

But onto the broken promises from this government: the residents of Casey know that the Albanese government have broken promises. The roads for communities program was slated to seal over 150 kilometres of roads in my electorate. We have over 734 kilometres of unsealed roads in the seat of Casey. This project was needed to improve lives, improve safety, get people home quicker and allow emergency services access to our most remote areas, and it had bipartisan support. Prime Minister Albanese, when he was in opposition, committed to this program 'to build the safe roads our communities need'. In the October budget, he ripped that money out of our community, and he broke his promise.

I was at the Kallista Flood Watch event last Thursday night. I want to thank Mark and Karen from Kallista Flood Watch for organising that event and the many residents who turned up and shared their stories. There are many stories that were really impactful, and I would love to share them all today, but I can't. I think the one that impacted us the most was from Mel, who was the last speaker of the night. She shared her story of how her four-wheel drive was rolling backwards on a dirt road, and it was a matter of seconds and just good luck, as she said, that her car with her daughter in it didn't roll backwards onto a main road and get hit by a truck that had just gone past the intersection. That's what we're talking about. By ripping this money out of my community, by breaking its promise, the Albanese government is putting the lives of the residents of Casey at risk. They said it at the time. Under questioning in December, the department admitted that this project improves safety. They have broken their promise and ripped this money out of our community. I'm calling on the Albanese government to put this money back into the May budget and admit that they made a mistake and broke a promise. Over 20,000 residents in Casey are impacted. They live on these roads every day—whether it's the safety risk or whether it's the health risk of breathing in the dust. And there are many others who travel these roads on a daily basis. So I call on the government to return that funding to our community.

It's not just dirt roads in Casey that this government have broken their promise on. There is $110 million for the Wellington Road duplication that, again, they committed to when in opposition and are now refusing to fund. That is impacting the residents of Casey, La Trobe and Aston. That is a road that would get emergency services onto our mountains in a time of emergency and allow residents to get off.

This government needs to also pressure the state Labor government in Victoria to spend the $20 million to upgrade Killara Road. That money was funded in 2019. The state government was given $20 million to deliver that project in 2019. That project has not started. The state Labor government in Victoria is now talking about pulling that funding into other projects, which we in the outer east know is code for 'suburban rail link'. The Albanese government needs to pressure the Victorian government to deliver on their promise to fix the Killara Road intersection. It's a dangerous intersection. Sean Bethell, a CFA captain, has advocated and spoken repeatedly about how important this funding is. It's getting worse because a bike pump track has been installed about 500 metres down the road from that intersection. We have now got young children leaving the estate to go and get some exercise and crossing Melba Highway—crossing a major road—with no lights. Lives are at risk. The Victorian state government need to deliver on this promise. The Albanese government need to make sure they honour the commitment they made when they received that $20 million from the federal government.

These are just two examples of this Albanese Labor government continuing to break their promises, leaving the residents of Casey worse off.

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