3BA The Big Show, Ballarat

PAUL TAYLOR [HOST]: Let’s go local, Ballarat, and I was going to speak to Lilly from Not Your Grandma’s Pantry, but unfortunately Lilly’s not answering her phone. We’ll get her on another time, though. I tell you what, her replacement though this morning has a major announcement to make, that is for sure. And the Honourable Catherine King MP, Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government – good morning to you, Catherine.

CATHERINE KING [MINISTER]: Good morning, and also the most important title I have and the one I am proudest of is Federal Member of Ballarat. But I’m doing- I’m here in my ministerial capacity today.

PAUL TAYLOR: Absolutely you are. Could we add any extra duties to your portfolio, do you think?

CATHERINE KING: [Laughs] No, I’m pretty busy, to be honest. I’ve got some terrific junior ministers who help me out a fair bit, it’s a big portfolio and really busy. But I’m at home today, which is really lovely to actually be able to be in Ballarat. And I can smell the smoke in the air, and I hope everyone’s all right out at Buninyong Surrounds. That would’ve been a pretty scary event [indistinct] …

PAUL TAYLOR: [Talks over] Our emergency services once again did a wonderful job in protecting our communities out Mount Clear and Mount Buninyong way.

Speaking of which, Anthony Albanese up- is he still in Queensland at the moment, with the cyclone happening?

CATHERINE KING: Yeah, as I understand it that’s where he is. He was certainly there yesterday with the Emergency Services Minister Jenny McAllister. She’s sort of basing herself up there at the moment, and we’ve got the National Emergency Management Agency – obviously the state of Queensland takes the lead, but we’ve got all of those national assets in place who’ve had time to prepare. But yeah, it’s pretty scary watching it. It seems unbelievable to imagine how much rain they’ve had right up the top of the state, and then to see this. And I’m sure there’s many people who know I’ve got family there, I’ve got staff there as well. I know there’s people who know- have lots of family, lots of people who- known up there, so I think our thoughts are all with them at the moment.

PAUL TAYLOR: Catherine, a lot of pundits were saying Sunday was going to be the day that Mr Albanese would head to the GG’s office. But given Cyclone Alfred, that’s not likely to happen, do you think?

CATHERINE KING: Well, again, the election timing’s a matter for him. But look, I think that he’s pretty focused on- you know, you’ve got such a big emergency up the top of the country. I don’t think it’s- I think we’re focused on how do we help, what do we do, what do we actually need to do to make sure people are safe. And then if there is, in the event of terrible and- you know, the sort of things we think might happen, then how do we help people recover quickly. And so I think he’s pretty focused on that at the moment. The election obviously is going to have to be held before May, but I think when you’ve got something like that happening, we’re all just like, okay what do we need to do, is really the mode we’re in at the moment, and the election sort of takes a bit of a backseat. But again, that’ll be a matter for him.

PAUL TAYLOR: Catherine King, let’s get to the announcement at hand. If anyone’s travelled the Western Freeway, in particular around Melton and Caroline Springs, those sorts of areas, it’s a very frustrating drive, especially at peak hour. What’s going on where the Western Freeway is concerned? A lot of money to be thrown at this to make it a lot safer, Catherine King.

CATHERINE KING: Yeah, absolutely. So the Victorian Government and the Albanese Labor Government, we put in money – about 20 million – to do a joint business case that has finished. There’s still some more work to be done on that, but in order to get the ball really rolling on the highway- it just really can’t wait, it’s at capacity or it’s about to be at capacity in the next five years or so, so we’re being told. So we’re putting in $1 billion- $1.1 billion actually, to- particularly from that Melton to Caroline Springs end to try and look at how can we make the road safer, how can we ease some of that congestion, particularly in those peak hours in the morning as people are coming out of Bacchus Marsh, out of Melton, out of Rockbank and trying to get into work- that really from 6am onwards, it's very difficult to get through there, and the state of the road is not really keeping up with the demands of the population there. And then obviously the return peak hour, that also is really significant problem. We know that once the West Gate Tunnel is done, there'll be some alleviation of the sort of bottleneck at the end, but really at the moment the road is just not keeping up.

So that $1.1 billion, there's also out of that 100 million to try and really resolve the issue that we've got down our end around Brewery Tap Road. It's a really dangerous intersection there. I've had lots of people talking to me about really that needs to be fixed. It's an accident waiting to happen, so we want to try and get ahead of that. It's really awful when you're trying to run the gambit crossing there, so we'll do the work with the Victorian state government about what the solutions are to try and resolve that. But we're putting 100 million in there.

And there's also a smaller amount of money down a bit further, which is to fix some of the bridges heading towards [indistinct], but all of the remaining money, there's already $1 billion in the highway to do a range of other things down the other end of the highway. So that's really what we're announcing today. I use it- at least weekly I'm down that highway. I know lots of people use it to get to and from work, to get to and from family. It's a really important piece of infrastructure for the whole west of the state. So we'll be pleased to be making that announcement today.

PAUL TAYLOR: Catherine, is that money guaranteed, even though we've got an election looming? If the Albanese Government is ousted, does that money stay? What's …

CATHERINE KING: Yeah. Well, any announcements we're making before the election is called are obviously decisions of government. So they're budgeted decisions that will show up in the Pre-Election Financial Outlook. The only risk, of course, is if the Liberals come in and say they want to cut things. And unfortunately, we do know that they've got to find money for the cuts that they do want to make, and that is always a risk when elections change. But this obviously is money that we're making as a decision of government announced as government.

PAUL TAYLOR: Well, good to see money being thrown at the Brewery Tap Road intersection at Warrenheip. It is a worrisome intersection and needs to be fixed as soon as possible, as does the congestion further down the Freeway towards Melton and Rockbank, Caroline Springs, those sorts of areas.

The Honourable Catherine King, MP for Ballarat and all the other titles that you hold nowadays, thank you so much for coming on The Big Show. Few and far between nowadays with you jet setting around and looking after a whole heap of other things in your portfolio, but we appreciate your time this morning, Catherine. And take care on the roads, won't you?

CATHERINE KING: I will do. It's always good to be with you, and a privilege that as the Member for Ballarat, I then get to hold these bigger roles. But it's only because I'm the Member of Ballarat that I get to hold those bigger roles, so always an incredible privilege to be that and to hold that in the community as well. So I'm very, very appreciative for the opportunity afforded to me by the people of Ballarat, really.

PAUL TAYLOR: Thank you so much, the Honourable Catherine King MP.