Janet Rice (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In 2015 the residents of Footscray, in the western suburbs of Melbourne, secured a curfew on heavy trucks from the Andrews Labor government. Footscray is my home, so I know what a huge win this was for the local community. It was a triumph for grassroots and community campaigns. Massive trucks powering down our residential streets have caused massive problems of diesel pollution and noise through their sheer bulk dominating the streets. And they endanger people's lives. Yet, eight years later, the Andrews government has failed to adequately enforce and monitor the curfew, and Footscray residents continue to be appallingly impacted by the continuous presence of heavy trucks and road trains. The massive problems of these massive trucks continue.

About 25 road trains use Footscray's Moore Street every day to deliver material to the West Gate Tunnel project, as well as around 2,000 other trucks. Despite a statement in 2018 by the Premier that material for this project would be delivered by rail freight, Footscray's streets have become a major thoroughfare for road trains and other heavy vehicles delivering material to the West Gate Tunnel project. Disappointingly, a growing number of these trucks have exemptions from the government to access residential streets in the area.

These trucks have a huge negative impact on the wellbeing and health of this community. Constantly breathing in diesel pollution from dirty vehicles is bad for people's health. A recent study by the University of Melbourne found that air and traffic pollution likely claims more than 11,000 Australian lives every year. And I have heard countless stories from residents who have been woken in the night by the loud noise of trucks turning or accelerating through their streets. Many people have told me how difficult it's been to get the children to sleep through the night, and others have shared how they've begun to experience ongoing sleep deprivation.

Even more alarmingly, not only are these heavy vehicles disturbing the sleep and hearing of residents of Footscray but they are endangering the lives of pedestrians and cyclists. Just a month ago, a 22-year-old cyclist, Angus Collins, was tragically killed by a truck on Footscray Road at an intersection that was made incredibly dangerous by the construction of the West Gate Tunnel. My heart goes out to his family and friends. I recently heard from Elizabeth, a local resident, who was nearly run over by a truck while walking to school with her son. She told me that, while turning left from Moore Street in Footscray, the truck mounted the kerb and came so close to her and her son that she could have touched it with her hands. Elizabeth told me that the experience left her feeling angry and disempowered—angry that her son can't walk to school safely and disempowered by the broken promises of the Andrews government to the Footscray community.

I am also angry. I was elected to the Maribyrnong City Council 20 years ago this month, and a big part of my council election platform was campaigning about trucks. The community has seen little to no change regarding heavy vehicles in the decades since. It is so wrong that cyclists are still being killed by trucks and that Elizabeth is worried about the safety of her kids walking to school on the very same intersection on which I was worried about my kids walking to school 20 years ago. The community have been stonewalled and stymied, with minimal action being taken by the state government in that time.

The Footscray community fought hard for the truck curfew in 2015, and it should be upheld. I call upon the Andrews government to adequately enforce the truck curfew, to immediately end all exemptions given to heavy trucks and road trains during the curfew hours in Footscray and to fulfil their commitment to transport material for the West Gate Tunnel project by rail. I also call upon the federal government to pressure their Labor colleagues to take these actions, to introduce tough new federal pollution standards for heavy vehicles and to put in place measures to rapidly shift freight transport to rail and to hydrogen and electric trucks to help my fellow residents of the inner west of Melbourne and, indeed, people across the country to live safe and healthy lives.

As I've done many times in this place, I would like to talk about the crucial need to raise income support, particularly after hearing evidence from our latest poverty inquiry hearing. Being forced to live in your car or in a tent while your government delivers tax cuts to those on over $200,000 a year is not okay, but this is the reality for those hit hardest by the Lismore floods. I recently visited Lismore to chair the fifth hearing of the yearlong Senate inquiry into the extent and nature of poverty in Australia. Over 3,000 homes in the Lismore area were impacted by the 2022 floods, and more than one year on our inquiry heard harrowing reports of locals still camping in tents in their backyards, couch surfing, or living in cars or in pod villages. We heard about the kindness and the care of strangers and community organisations who selflessly uplift those in need in the absence of government support.

The resounding issue that has been raised in these inquiry hearings is meagre income support payments. The inquiry heard from Nimbin resident Chibo, who shared his experience over the last few years:

I must say, I've never felt so mentally tortured as when I was unemployed, starting with Centrelink treating you like you're the last dirt from the street. Just coming into the whole situation … really impacts on your lifestyle, on your nutrition level, on anything. As soon as something goes 'pop' which wasn't being calculated for, like if you have a car and you have one tyre problem or something, that's $50 to $150 … That just throws you out while you were maybe saving up for getting the fridge repaired or something. It is such a stressful state.

On Centrelink payments he added:

We are really making people sick—that's my opinion—by having them on such a small amount of money.

Sadly, we heard the same thing in Lismore as we've being hearing at every poverty inquiry hearing to date. People are struggling to keep a roof over their heads and they need help to make it through this cost-of-living crisis.

To those who are still doing it tough, please know that we hear you and we'll continue to fight for you inside and outside the parliament. Between low wages, having no affordable housing, and starvation payments of around $47 a day for people on JobSeeker, communities across the country are facing dire financial circumstances. That is why the Greens are pushing Labor to invest $5 billion a year in public and affordable housing and to raise the rate of all income support payments to $88 a day in the May budget. We need action, not words. Poverty is a political choice—a choice that continues to be made by this Labor government. These people in our community have been punished by 10 years of a callous coalition government. As we saw in the budget last year, they will continue to be chastised by a Labor government who profess to speak for the people.

I am calling on Minister Rishworth, Treasurer Chalmers and the Labor government to financially support people who have been forced into poverty—forced into something that is out of their control. The government has the power and the ability to lift the rate of income support above the poverty line.

Finally, I want to note, in the time remaining, that Friday marks Tibetan Uprising Day, which commemorates the 1959 Tibetan uprising that ultimately resulted in a violent crackdown on Tibetan independence movements and in the flight of the Dalai Lama into exile. The Chinese government has continued their attacks on Tibetan people and culture to this day. Peaceful protests in Tibet have resulted in people being arrested, including monks. We have a broader pattern by the Chinese government of oppressive actions against Tibetan organisations and people. I've consistently noted my concerns about the disappearance of the Panchen Lama. I will continue to push, here in the Australian context, that we recognise only a Dalai Lama appointed by Tibetan Buddhist traditions and practices, without interference by the Chinese government.

To the people of Tibet and to Tibetans around the world: we are in solidarity with you and with everyone facing injustice and human rights violations. We urgently urge the Chinese government to immediately cease its violations of human rights in Tibet, and we call upon the Australian government to advocate at the highest level for human rights in Tibet and around the world.