The Andrews Labor Government Continues to Liaise with The

4/13/2021 Parliament of Victoria Question: 6962 CONSTITUENCY QUESTION — Mr O'Brien (Gippsland South) to ask the Minister for Roads and Road Safety — My constituency question is to the Minister for Roads and Road Safety, and I ask him to advise whether he has sought funding from the federal government for the Princes Highway duplication between Traralgon and Sale, and the Black Spur highway realignment in South Gippsland. As the minister would be aware, work on the Princes Highway has been going for some time; $160 million is required for the two remaining stages of the Princes Highway duplication. The minister needs to ask the federal government for a contribution, which historically has been 80 per cent of the total price. I would assume that he has done so, but I would like him to respond as to whether he has asked the federal government for that money. Also in relation to the Black Spur realignment, which is a $51 million project, I ask whether he intends to ask the commonwealth for funding for that project as well. Answer: The Andrews Labor Government continues to liaise with the Commonwealth Government, on opportunities for increased Federal funding for nationally significant transport projects across Victoria, including the duplication of strategic regional highways. These discussions are ongoing. Hon Luke Donnellan MP Minister for Roads and Road Safety Attachments: No Attachments Answer Published Date: 27/04/2016 Question: 6963 CONSTITUENCY QUESTION — Mr Bull (Sunbury) to ask the Minister for Roads and Road Safety — My question is for the Minister for Roads and Road Safety. Last week the minister announced that delays can be expected on the West Gate Freeway and the Bolte Bridge due to the major construction of an extra lane off the Bolte Bridge and along the West Gate Freeway. The minister advised that the works would help to untangle a congested piece of road that has a major impact on the performance of the M1 corridor, Melbourne's economic spine. The minister has advised that the project will create 1400 jobs, improve travel times and reduce accidents by 20 per cent. Nearly three-quarters of residents in my electorate travel in their cars to and from work each day, and these works will have a significant impact on their daily commute. Can the minister provide information on these expected delays and ways in which VicRoads is working to minimise these? Answer: Drivers who use the West Gate Bridge and the Lorimer Street off-ramp are affected by the construcon of an extra lane off the Bolte Bridge and along the West Gate Freeway. Traffic travelling down the Lorimer Street ramp no longer has a dedicated lane and needs to merge with the West Gate Freeway traffic travelling from the West Gate Bridge to the Burnley Tunnel. VicRoads encourages drivers to plan their journey, allow extra travel me and consider other modes of transport or alternave routes. Once traffic begins to sele into new paerns, drivers travelling into the city in the morning peak should expect their trip to take up to 15 minutes longer. The evening peak period will not be affected by the construcon. Several alternave routes are available to drivers heading inbound on the West Gate Bridge or the CityLink Tullamarine Freeway. From the West Gate Bridge, drivers can take the Geelong Road exit to Footscray Road, the Williamstown Road exit to Footscray Road or the Todd Road exit to Lorimer Street. From CityLink, drivers can take the Footscray Road exit to Wurundjeri Way or the Dynon Road exit to Kings Street. https://qon.parliament.vic.gov.au/PARLIAMENT/General/QoN/PROD/qonarchive.nsf/printAllQuestions.xsp 1/6 4/13/2021 Parliament of Victoria For drivers who cannot take an alternave route, a temporary ramp signal system will be used to regulate the volume of traffic merging from the Lorimer Street exit to the West Gate Freeway. This will assist in controlling the flow of traffic onto the West Gate Freeway and help drivers merge more easily. New linemarkings on the freeway, concrete barriers and reduced speed limits will also be in place to keep drivers and work crews safe during construcon. VicRoads recommends that drivers move into their preferred lane early and avoid changing lanes where possible. The latest Bluetooth technology will provide up-to-the-minute informaon about delays and alternave routes, so drivers are also asked to switch on their Bluetooth before heading out. The informaon from the Bluetooth network will help drivers stay up-to-date and plan their journey through the VicTraffic app or via citylinktullawidening.vic.gov.au. On Twier, drivers can follow @VicRoads or @CityLinkMelb or search for #CTWidening. VicRoads and Transurban will connue to assess condions to ensure that the impacts of the works can be migated as much as possible. Hon Luke Donnellan MP Minister for Roads and Road Safety Attachments: No Attachments Answer Published Date: 27/04/2016 Question: 6964 CONSTITUENCY QUESTION — Mr Thompson (Sandringham) to ask the Minister for Public Transport — I refer the Minister for Public Transport to government plans for sky rail along the Frankston line, and I ask on behalf of my constituents and constituents in adjoining electorates: why were the sky rail plans not announced before the election? Answer: The Andrews Government is removing 11 level crossings on the Frankston line. The former Liberal Government did not remove any crossings on the Frankston line. When the Government committed to removing the level crossings before the election there were no solutions determined for any sites. The Government has established the Level Crossing Removal Authority (LXRA) to undertake the necessary investigations, engineering, design and consultation to determine the best solution for each site. The Authority is consulting with local residents, traders and special interest groups along the Frankston line throughout this year. The first round of community consultation is underway. Nine community drop- in sessions have been held, there have been 10 pop-ups at stations and shopping centres, traders in each area have been spoken with individually, as have special interest groups. https://qon.parliament.vic.gov.au/PARLIAMENT/General/QoN/PROD/qonarchive.nsf/printAllQuestions.xsp 2/6 4/13/2021 Parliament of Victoria Hon Jacinta Allan MP Member for Bendigo East Minister fort Public Transport Attachments: No Attachments Answer Published Date: 09/05/2016 Question: 6965 CONSTITUENCY QUESTION — Ms Couzens to ask the Minister for Health — My constituency question is for the Minister for Health, and my question is: what is the latest information the minister can provide on the impact of the Turnbull federal government's health funding clawback as it relates to Barwon Health? I ask the minister this because there is news that Barwon Health is facing a $3.47 million cut to its bottom-line budget as a result of the latest round of savage health funding cuts from the federal Liberal government. The cut is set to hit University Hospital Geelong in March, creating a funding black hole nine months into its annual budget. Barwon Health has been hit hard by the federal Liberal government's $73 million in cuts — a direct attack on Victorian patients and their families. It is just not good enough, and the people of my electorate deserve better than this. Answer: The 2014-15 Commonwealth Budget announced significant changes to public hospital funding arrangements under the National Health Reform Agreement, including cessation of funding guarantees, and revising indexation arrangements from 1 July 2017 (achieving savings to the Commonwealth of $1.8 billion nationally over four years from 2014-15). On 1 April 2016, the Council of Australian Governments signed a Heads of Agreement which substantially rolls over existing National Health Reform Agreement arrangements from 2017-18 to 2019-20, and commits to deliver reforms designed to improve health outcomes for patients and decrease avoidable demand for public hospital services. The Agreement struck was that from 2017-18 to 2019-20, Commonwealth funding growth for public hospitals is to be capped at 6.5 per cent annually and the Commonwealth contribution to efficient growth funding will remain at 45 per cent. Modelling suggests the new agreement will provide substantially more funding for Victorian public hospital services over the life of the agreement (2017-18 to 2019-20) compared to what would have been received as a result of the 2014-15 Budget cuts. However, the new deal does not completely reverse the 2014-15 cuts as the maximum funding Victoria could receive from the Commonwealth is still significantly less than what Victoria could have received under the original Health Reform Agreement, for the same period. Further to these cuts, the acting Administrator of the National Health Funding Pool has advised the Commonwealth Treasurer to reduce Commonwealth funding for public hospitals in Victoria by an additional $73.2 million in 2015-16 and $36.6 million ongoing from 2016-17. This is due to the Administrator overturning a previous decision to exclude activity funded under the National Partnership Agreement on Improving Public Hospital Services in growth calculations for Victoria. The proposed reduction will impact all Metro and Rural Health Services but not Small Rural Hospitals. The Department of Health and Human Services is still currently working with the Commonwealth Health Department, Treasurer and the Administrator of the National Health Funding Pool to resolve this issue. Recent modelling undertaken by the Department shows that following all of the funding decisions made by the Commonwealth Liberal Government since its election in 2013, Victorian hospitals will be $15.4 billion worse off over the next 10 years. These cuts are severe and will have a huge impact on the capacity of hospitals to meet the pressing health care needs of their communities.

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