House debates

Monday, 27 October 2014

Adjournment

East West Link

9:05 pm

Photo of Michael SukkarMichael Sukkar (Deakin, Liberal Party) Share this | | Hansard source

I rise this evening to highlight the importance to my electorate of the recent signing of contracts between the Linking Melbourne Authority and the East West Connect consortium to build and maintain stage 1 of the East West Link. As many in this place will know, stage 1 of the East West Link involves a 6.6-kilometre freeway standard road, predominantly via two twin tunnels, connecting the Eastern Freeway at Hoddle Street with CityLink. I am very pleased to have been able to secure $1.5 billion in funding from the Commonwealth government for this city-changing, congestion-busting project. In addition, the Commonwealth will contribute an additional $1.5 billion as part of stage 2 of the project in the future.

These two key investments from the Commonwealth government form part of our economic action strategy, as announced in the budget, and build on our commitment during the election to build the roads of the 21st century. The East West Link understandably enjoys much enthusiasm in the Deakin electorate, as well as the eastern suburbs more broadly, as it will end the crippling congestion on the Eastern Freeway, in particular at Hoddle Street and Alexandra Parade, where the Eastern Freeway comes to an abrupt stop and is then funnelled on to already congested local roads.

Let us remember the people protesting against the East West Link are the same people who protested against the Eastern Freeway. And as I say to my residents in Deakin: could you imagine living in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne without the Eastern Freeway? Of course not. This link will also provide a direct connection to the airport from the Eastern Freeway. These outcomes are designed to ease traffic congestion, improve productivity and ultimately will mean Deakin families can spend more time together, rather than sitting in pointless traffic.

Most importantly, I welcome the news that this project will see more than 6,000 local jobs created during the construction phase of the project, providing a much needed boost for the Victorian economy. This is the project that will give the Victorian economy a shot in the arm. However, there is a threat to these important opportunities for Victoria and that is the election of a state Labor government next month.

Daniel Andrews, or Dan Andrews, or Andrew Daniels—whatever he goes by these days—for reasons only known to him has stated that he will tear up the contracts with East West Connect, risking our state's reputation and exposing Victorian taxpayers to many millions of dollars of contractual penalties. The Labor Party does have form on this project though. Before the last election, the federal Labor Party and former member for Deakin abandoned the people of Deakin, including those in Ringwood, Vermont, Nunawading, Mitcham, Heathmont and Croydon—and, of course, all other parts of Melbourne's east—by opting to put thousands of jobs at risk and condemning commuters to congestion and gridlock for decades to come simply to secure support with their inner-city Green constituency. Now we see state Labor following in those lamentable footsteps.

In Deakin, the community have welcomed the comments from the President of the Ringwood Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mr Peter Milford, who has publicly said, 'Now is the ideal time to build the East West Link.' But the economic recklessness of Labor in their decision is really in stark contrast to previous positions they have had in respect of the East West Link project. It is important to remind the Labor Party that it was a review first commissioned by the former state Labor government in 2008 that spawned the recommendation of the East West Link. That was through the Eddington review. The Labor Party are now walking away from a review that they commissioned in government that recommended the East West Link as being the most important infrastructure project for Victorians and, I can say, the most important infrastructure project for those people living in the Deakin electorate and in the east of Melbourne more broadly.

But these developments—the signing of the contracts by the Napthine government and the threat to tear them up by the Andrews opposition—shows once and for all that, when it comes to providing infrastructure and business confidence for Victorians, only a coalition government, be it state or federal, can be trusted to deliver the East West Link for residents and all Victorians.