Alice Jordan-Baird (Gorton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The western suburbs of Melbourne are booming with industry, small business and new families who are choosing to call our community home. The west is where we're building more homes and helping young Australians to own their own home. Over 1,800 people in Gorton have bought their first home with a five-per-cent-or-less deposit, thanks to Labor's expanded Home Guarantee Scheme. With more homes come more people who are using our local road infrastructure to get around. Right now, more people are using the Western Freeway and Calder Freeway, meaning more people are sitting in traffic for hours to get into the city or go to work. We've got to do better for the west.

We, on this side of the House, are aware of this growth and are planning for it, which is exactly why we made a number of significant infrastructure commitments at the recent federal election. We're fixing the Western Freeway between Caroline Springs and Melton. This was a project that was in the too-hard basket for the Liberal government for a decade, but we are getting it done. Approximately 86,000 vehicles travel the Western Freeway on this stretch every single day, with this figure expected to rise to approximately 113,000 by 2031. Our $1 billion investment for more lanes and better interchanges on the Western Freeway will mean that families can get home sooner and spend more time together. Only Labor will invest in better infrastructure for the west.