Government must halt Blackburn destruction

In Parliament this week, I called on the state government to stop their needless destruction of South Parade and along the rail reservation, and listen to the community. Here’s what I said:

“I raise with the Minister for Public Transport the ongoing chaos and destruction with the Blackburn rail project, and I ask the minister to get in contact with the Level Crossing Removal Authority (LXRA), Public Transport Victoria (PTV) and her ministerial colleagues to get these problems resolved, get the needless destruction halted and get the best possible outcome for the community that can now be achieved.

“The Blackburn rail project was funded by the previous coalition government in 2014, but its implementation is being appallingly mishandled by the current government.

“As with other rail projects across Melbourne, there has been massive and often avoidable destruction of magnificent well-established trees and vegetation right along the rail reservation and along South Parade. There seems to have been no effort made to save even iconic, decades-old native trees. The approach seems to be: chainsaw first, sort out the consequences later.

“The destruction and desolation has caused a huge loss of trade for South Parade traders, with locals saying they just cannot bear to go there anymore because the devastation is too painful to see.

“The government has refused to widen the Blackburn subway, making it increasingly cramped for commuters and leaving the community and Blackburn village divided between north and south of the railway line.

“Residents along Glen Ebor Avenue have had the LXRA use dubious legal arguments to force residents to have trees removed from their own premises, while numerous security failures at the works site and the clearing of vegetation from the rail reservation land behind their premises have seen intruders entering residents’ properties, creating ongoing fears for the safety of their families once the works have been finished.

“Time and time again promises made to residents by the community engagement arm of the project alliance have not been delivered on by the contractors, and residents complain bitterly that Shaun Leane, a Labor member for Eastern Metropolitan Region, refuses to speak to them or return their emails or phone calls, with his office doing nothing more than forwarding all communications to the LXRA.

“Last but not least, the government have rejected the community’s call for the bike path route through Blackburn to be built on the north rather than the south of the railway line, which has involved massive vegetation loss and threatens even more devastation and loss along South Parade west of the railway station and along Elmore Walk, as well as the loss of car-parking spaces and/or danger for cyclists along and crossing Laburnum Street and loss of parkland next to Laburnum station.

“In a last-ditch effort to minimise the damage, a group of locals have developed a proposal for the bike path instead to be taken across the railway line at grade to the north side from part-way along South Parade, a proposal that they have presented to Whitehorse Council and to VicRoads, and about which I have spoken to the Minister for Roads and Road Safety.
“I ask the Minister for Public Transport to make sure that PTV talks to VicRoads and, if necessary, to the LXRA urgently about this proposal, to see if it can at least make some improvement to the very poor outcomes the community is facing.”