Western Highway Duplication

Ms DUNN (Eastern Metropolitan) — My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Roads and Road Safety, Luke Donnellan. The history of the Western Highway duplication project is one of failure when it comes to full and proper community engagement and conserving environmental values. VicRoads put insufficient effort into mapping and rating vegetation during the design of the section between Beaufort and Buangor. They estimated that 221 large or very large old trees would be cleared but ended up cutting down 900 trees against the wishes of the local community.

This coming summer the Western Highway duplication section 2b, between the Buangor bypass and Ararat, is slated to start construction. VicRoads seems to have failed to learn from its planning mistakes from earlier sections and continues to plan its design on the basis of the initial flawed environment effects statement, which failed to identify several areas of national conservation significance. The proposed road alignment will destroy critical habitat as defined by the Federal Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, specifically 4.3 hectares of grassy woodland, 31.1 hectares of golden sun moth habitat and 24.6 hectares of striped legless lizard habitat. It is not too late to prevent such wanton damage.

VicRoads has attempted to mollify the local community but has not adequately responded to requests for full consideration of these environmental impacts. VicRoads dawdled for six months in releasing a VicRoadscommissioned peer appraisal of the environment effects statement. What was the reason for the delay? The peer appraisal identified critical shortcomings. VicRoads then unilaterally decided it did not matter anyway and is proceeding with its preferred alignment, and the environment be damned.

The action I seek is to ask the Minister for Roads and Road Safety to take responsibility for the governance failures of VicRoads, do something for the environment and fully consider alternatives to the current alignment to avoid areas of critical habitat.