My constituency question is to the Minister for the Suburban Rail Loop, and I ask: will the minister provide me with a detailed account of the Victorian Labor government’s engagement with Highett, Cheltenham and Pennydale residents prior to announcing the commencement of the Suburban Rail Loop at the Sir William Fry Reserve? In a press release dated 16 November 2020 the government stated that the Suburban Rail Loop’s locations:
… have been determined following … consultation with local stakeholders and the community.
This was reiterated in a letter which I received from the minister on 30 November, when she asserted that:
Residents in and around Cheltenham have been overwhelming supportive …
of the project. So why then have I received dozens of emails from residents to say that they had no warning about the works at Sir William Fry Reserve?
It begs the question: what consultation has actually taken place, and how can the government assert overwhelming support for a project that local residents have not been consulted about?
In my view the residents of Highett, Cheltenham and Pennydale deserve much better than this.
