Darren Chester (Gippsland, National Party, Shadow Minister for Regional Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to raise my concerns with the minister for infrastructure and transport's razor gang review of the infrastructure investment pipeline. Lives are being put at risk and jobs are being lost with this uncertainty around community based and community supported projects that have been through a long process and now are being subjected to more delays because this minister can't do her day job. More than 100 days have passed since this so-called independent 90-day review was announced. What worries me is that lives are actually at stake here. It's like the government and the department have gone on strike, because work is not starting on road projects that would actually save lives in my community. What worries me also is that these projects are only becoming more expensive. The longer we wait, the more delays we will have and the more expensive the projects will become, meaning that there will be less road work done and there will be fewer dangerous intersections actually fixed.

Sadly, this minister has hit the ground reviewing. After 15 months in office, there's not a single new project in Gippsland funded by the new government. I say to the minister: why are you punishing Gippslanders twice? They faced delays in these projects because the Andrews state government wouldn't stump up their 20 per cent to get the work started, and now they're being caught up in your so-called independent review, which is basically a razor gang review trying to cut funding from worthy projects throughout regional Australia. These projects are under threat and lives are being put at risk because this minister cannot do her day job.