Zoe McKenzie (Flinders, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Mental Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Peninsula Link connects the Mornington Peninsula community to work, services and the city every day. Over the last year the incompetent Allan Labor government has turned Pen Link into an obstacle course, with inexplicable speed limits, phantom roadworks, unpredictable lane closures and enough orange cones to be visible from outer space. Last year there were months of roadworks, with southbound lanes closed between September and November. My community was completely baffled. We have a long list of roads that desperately need to be fixed, but not that one, and not as we head into the summer blitz.

Last month I got a flyer telling me that major works would again resume in February, with southbound lanes closed this month and northbound closure next month. It also said, 'We will undertake these works in sections, rebuilding the freeway from the ground up, replacing layers of pavement below the road surface to make it stronger and better suited to local road conditions'. So, why have we suffered closures causing traffic chaos and reduced speed limits for months so that in February they can start rebuilding the freeway from the ground up?

Today's commuters are spending an average of 10 to 20 minutes each trip stuck behind cones and lane drops. While that doesn't sound like much, when it's your lifeblood, your connection to work, family, health services and education an extra 40 minutes a day of driving really impacts your commute. Businesses are bearing the cost, local roads are bearing the load and residents are bearing the poor planning. The Victorian government is nothing short of a disgrace. Responsible road planning, respecting the commercial calendar of the peninsula, is not too much to ask for.