CONSTITUENCY STATEMENTS

Mr WATTS (Gellibrand) (16:31): Residents of Point Cook in my electorate have been stuck in traffic for too long, so I congratulate the state member for Point Cook, Mathew Hilakari, and the Carroll Labor government for their announcement that a re-elected state Labor government will commit $195 million to duplicate Point Cook Road between Central Avenue and Dunnings Road.

Point Cook Road connects Australia's biggest suburb to the rest of Melbourne, and, from the freeway exit to Point Cook Homestead Road, it stretches about five kilometres, linking people with friends, family, work and leisure. For most of that length, it's one lane each way, and that's because it was built for a different Point Cook. At the turn of the century, around 2,000 people lived in Point Cook in what was a rural hamlet at the fringe of the city.

Today, around 70,000 people call it home. We're forecast to reach 85,000 in the coming decade. Nearly 28,000 vehicles use Point Cook Road every day in the peak, with locals commuting to work via the Princes Freeway and parents doing the school drop-off and pick-up.

Ask any of them, and they'll tell you that the road is no longer fit for purpose. The Albanese Labor government knows that growing suburbs in Melbourne's west need infrastructure investment that grows with them. This commitment doesn't stand alone in that respect.

It complements the federal government's $3.5 million in funding for the business case to duplicate Point Cook Road between Dunnings Road and Jamieson Way and the $55 million in federal funding to duplicate and upgrade Central Avenue between Lunn Court and Skehan Boulevard, feeding into the Central Avenue and Point Cook Road intersection. Fixing the Central Avenue intersection is necessary for fixing Point Cook Road, and these works are helping traffic move through the intersection, easing congestion at the top of Point Cook Road and providing improved interchanges with the Princes Freeway.

Put those together, as well as the Victorian government's commitment, and you get a pipeline of works that moves section by section down Point Cook Road from Central Avenue, with each project building on the last. That's what you get with state and federal Labor governments working together. You can already see the flow of traffic improve as works are completed.

At Central Avenue, the old roundabout is gone, and the new traffic lights are now operating. Further down Point Cook Road at the Sneydes Road intersection, traffic lights have also been installed at an intersection that so many locals once tried to avoid. We know roadworks can be disruptive, but each phase is an investment in getting our community to where they're going faster and safer.

I thank the workforce, who have delivered this project faster than expected. I thank the community, who have put up with a period of time of cones and detours along the way, and I know that Point Cook has waited a long time for this road to be fixed, but we're getting it done, because fixing this road doesn't just mean less time spent in traffic. It means less money spent on fuel and more money in people's back pockets.

Most importantly, it gives locals time back in their day, easier school drop-offs, better access to good jobs and more time with their family. We'll keep working with the state Labor government to deliver what Melbourne's west needs.