Michael Sukkar (Deakin, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The former coalition government invested significantly in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne and, indeed, those investments continue to this day, even after six months in opposition. We see major community works continuing at the Dorset Recreation Reserve, which will be one of the best soccer facilities in Australia, I would argue, let alone in the eastern suburbs. I know the Croydon City Arrows and our local Burmese community are very excited about the Dorset Recreation Reserve. We've just completed the Ainslie Park Pavilion as well which was funded by the former coalition government, supporting the East Ringwood Junior Football Club and Ainslie Park Cricket Club. They're enjoying their new rooms which we built in partnership with Maroondah City Council. We've also just completed Cheong Park for the South Croydon Cricket Club and South Croydon Football Club—another much-needed upgrade. Finally, this week we saw the lights being turned on at Reilly Street and Wantirna Road, with the signalisation ensuring much more safety not just for vehicles but also for pedestrians.

They are just the tail end of a huge number of projects delivered for the eastern suburbs of Melbourne. But what we've seen since the election, and particularly since the budget, is the government ripping out and cancelling projects in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne. It's quite shameful to see Labor again punishing the eastern suburbs. Of course, this federal government cut the $4 billion which was available and on the table for the East West Link which would finally have brought an improvement on traffic on the Eastern Freeway. Had the project not been cancelled by Labor, we'd already have the East West Link. It would have been built. We wouldn't have wasted $1.3 billion to cancel the contract. Instead, the Eastern Freeway in peak hour more resembles a car park.

To make it worse, the government cut train station car parks at Heatherdale and Heathmont—some $34 million—with 700 car parking spaces to be constructed. We know, from the car park that we built at the Croydon station in my electorate, that these are very popular and that they alleviate congestion and ensure that people are able to more easily access public transport. There's nothing more frustrating than arriving at a station in the morning, and not being able to get a car park.

Shamefully, we saw the government cut $50 million from the upgrade to Dorset Road. Dorset Road is an increasingly busy arterial in my electorate. The $50 million upgrade, so crucially needed for residents, not just in Croydon but throughout the eastern suburbs, was cancelled by Labor. We have seen since the election the eastern suburbs being punished with these projects being cancelled. We fought so hard for them and we'll keep talking about them and fighting for them into the future.