Zoe McKenzie (Flinders, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This week I will be rising in the chamber to talk about a number of much-needed infrastructure and road improvements across the Mornington Peninsula. I've spoken before, both here and elsewhere, about the troublesome roads and long-fought-for upgrades at the intersections of Forest Drive and Uralla Road with the Nepean Highway in Mount Martha. The previous coalition government fully funded the $20.5 million for the upgrade of these intersections back in 2019, initially with a $10 million commitment but later doubling the funding. There have been many false starts and promised time lines that were dropped, and all the while the number of dangerous accidents and near accidents at these intersections keeps mounting.

So I was relieved to read in the Mornington Peninsula Leader last week that the state government will finally be moving on the intersection of Forest Drive. According to that article, which appeared on 2 March, by locally based journalist Lucy Callander, work on upgrading the dangerous Mount Martha junction is expected before the end of the year. The end of the year? Well, tomorrow sounds good, certainly better than the end of the year. But, when we've already been waiting the better part of a decade since my predecessor as the member for Flinders, Greg Hunt, first announced funding for it, 10 months is better than never. Of course, the Victorian Minister for Roads and Road Safety, Melissa Horne, didn't alert me to the new plan, despite the fact that the road improvements are fully funded by the federal government. In fact, nor did she alert my state counterpart, Chris Crewther, the member for Mornington, with whom I have been advocating for this fully funded project to get started for well over a year. But let's be blunt. Our local community are tired of the 'he said, she said' huff-puffery of politics; they just desperately want to see it done. It has taken far too long for these critical works to reach this point.

But, worryingly, still there is very little detail about the progress for the Uralla Road upgrade. In the 10 years leading up to March 2020, there were 11 reported crashes at the Nepean Highway and Uralla Road intersection, of which five crashes resulted in serious injuries. During the same period, there were six reported crashes at the Nepean Highway and Forest Drive intersection. Tragically one person lost their life in these crashes, and three people were seriously injured. But these figures do not account for the countless near misses and close calls, to which I have personally been witness more times than I would care to recall. Whilst I am relieved to see a public plan for progress at Forest Drive, residents in my electorate will rightly demand that the safety concerns at Uralla Road be addressed now. Please, Victorian government, just do your job.