Jason Wood (La Trobe, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

When the Labor government announced the completion of the Monash Freeway many years ago in Victoria, claiming it was built under-budget and early, they conveniently forgot to mention they cut off one lane in order to save time and money. So now we have a road unaffectionately known as 'Monash car park'. There are a number of suburbs in my electorate that have been greatly affected—including, Narre Warren, Narre Warren North, Narre Warren South, Berwick, Beaconsfield, Officer, Emerald, Cockatoo, Gembrook, Dandenong Ranges, Ferntree Gully, Upper Gully, The Basin and Boronia.

From personal experience and the feedback I have received, including on social media, the Monash Freeway is absolutely atrocious. And what is Labor's plan at the state government level? Nothing. All this is happening while Daniel Andrews has cancelled pick-ups on the VLine service from Pakenham. This goes on top of Daniel Andrews and Bill Shorten opposing the East West Link and costing Victorians $900 million. I am firmly committed to seeing the widening of the Monash Freeway, not by one land but by two lanes. That is what we need, especially around the Berwick-Beaconsfield area. We need to see the federal and state governments working together to make this happen, and that is a challenge I will take up. My big concern is that, with the western distributor, Bill Shorten and Daniel Andrews are only concerned with the western side of Melbourne and are continuing to ignore the outer eastern suburbs.

We have not given up on the East West Link. We have committed $3 billion to this. This is still on the table. (Time expired)