By Bonny Burrows
Federal Treasurer Scott Morrison has accused the State Government of stalling the $500 million upgrade of the Monash Freeway and driving major investment away from the South-East.
The Federal Government committed the money, including funding for the completion of the Beaconsfield interchange more than 18 months ago, but the State Government is yet to announce how the cash will be used to ease local congestion.
Federal La Trobe MP Jason Wood and Casey and Cardinia mayors Sam Aziz and Brett Owen met with Mr Morrison on 2 November to unite in sharing their frustrations that upgrades to O’Shea Road and the completion of the Beaconsfield interchange had not commenced.
They said they feared that the stalling of works was driving investment away from a proposed Cardinia-Casey job innovation zone which is expected to provide up to 10,000 jobs.
Mr Morrison said the State Government needed to hurry up and build the “important infrastructure” required to secure local investment in hi-tech industries.
“In April 2016, we committed additional resources here to the Monash Freeway and particularly that foresaw putting this important infrastructure in place around the Beaconsfield interchange,” Mr Morrison said.
“Behind us we’re looking where 10,000 jobs should be and the only obstacle between those 10,000 jobs being a reality and now is the State Government getting on and spending the money we’ve committed to them.”
City of Casey Mayor Sam Aziz said the project was about more than just driving local employment.
“We are not just talking about unlocking a great reservoir of jobs … but also the time families will be able to save spending time on the road (and instead) spending with their loved ones,” Cr Aziz said.
He said despite living just 1.4km from the Clyde Road entry to the Monash, it sometimes took his family 50 minutes to make that 1.4km trip.
The mayor said he doubted that he was the only one who was frustrated.
“We’re looking at a corridor here that is growing at a rate of 10,000-15,000 people per year, so as time goes by and the State Government procrastinates on this, things will get worse for my local residents,” Cr Aziz said.
“I’m very, very keen to see that money is appropriately spent on unlocking this corridor because, at the moment, seven out of every 10 residents leave this region to go to work and we’ve got to reverse that … otherwise our city will be simply unsustainable.”
Cardinia Mayor Brett Owen said the Beaconsfield interchange meant “so much” to local residents and called on the State Government to commence works.
Victorian Roads Minister Luke Donnellan said state and federal authorities were working together to “find the best solution and get the best deal for Victorians”.
He said the State Government had always committed to completing a business case by the end the year and was on track to deliver that.
