MINISTER KING: Well, this intersection here at Brewery Tap Road, Warrenheip is one of those intersections when you go through it, you literally hold your breath. It's known to locals as really one of the most dangerous intersections in the area. Lots of heavy vehicles are using this road as well, and are often coming onto the highway, and really it is one of those things that I know as a federal MP, and I know Michaela Settle as a state MP, we are constantly being emailed about and often when people have had a near miss at this intersection. I was very proud last year in March to announce $100 million for the initial planning and early investigation work and the start of construction for this intersection. And today we're announcing that the Victorian Government is starting the consultation on the planning work. Locals will get to have their say about what they think the fix is on this intersection. And you can hear from behind me how popular that is. There'll be the opportunity to fill out a survey, tell people your experiences of your use of this road, and then what you think you'd like to see here to actually fix this really, really dangerous intersection. This is Labor listening to at the community here. This has been a long-standing issue for this community. We want to fix this dangerous intersection. I know there's lots of ideas about it. We've seen lots of businesses emerge over the period of time here too, that people want to access. So we're starting the process for planning and looking forward to seeing this project delivered.

JOURNALIST: How important is community consultation? For something so vital to the region? 

KING: Well, the planning work is really important to get this right because, you know, often you can have engineers who've got some great ideas about this is how you might fix something, but it's not really how people use the road. You've got really important businesses here in this community. You've got the service station here, car dealership, etc, that people use. And then you've also got heavy vehicles, and then you've got locals who are using the road as well. So, talking to people about what is the pattern of usage? How are people using it? When is it the busiest? What are the sorts of line-of-sight issues? What sort of vehicles are using it as well? Really important to do all of that and provide that opportunity for consultation while then the department goes into that detailed design phase for this area. 

JOURNALIST: You said you received a lot of emails about this project. How critical is it to the community? 

KING: Well, I think that every email we get that, certainly I've got, is basically generally after someone has had a near miss at this intersection, someone who's come home pretty shaken, got on the email and said, look, I've just seen this, this has just happened to me. And that's pretty constant I would be getting probably, you know, at least I get emails each, you know, literally every month about this intersection, of someone who's had a near miss, or someone who's seen something happen that they think it's really an accident waiting to happen.

JOURNALIST: How do you think Angus Taylor would go driving on this? 

KING: I think that Angus Taylor, you know, basically everything he touches has been pretty poorly handled. When you think about how he had the energy portfolio and what happened there, the disastrous multiple energy plans that led nowhere, that led to four kilowatt energy going out of the grid and only one coming back in. An absolute disaster. Then he was the architect, the person who decided after the March Budget, to oppose the changes to the tax cut that gave 14 million Australians a tax cut. Angus Taylor really has been a pretty terrible disaster in every portfolio he's had, and now they've given him a promotion. 

MICHAELA SETTLE, STATE MEMBER FOR EUREKA: I've spoken to so many people in the communities of Warrenheip, Dunnstown, East Ballarat, about their concerns with this intersection. I was really grateful that Minister King announced $100 million for planning and early works here and now this is the community's opportunity to have their say. I really encourage people get on Engage Vic, or, even better, head down to the Warrenheip Memorial Hall on Saturday the 21st and make sure that you have your say on this vital intersection.

JOURNALIST: Can you go into detail into how the community feedback will be received over time about this intersection and how important it is to upgrade it? look.

SETTLE: There's been a lot of discussion with the community. We have wonderful towns like Dunnstown and Warrenheip, and for them, this is a vital access be it to school, be it to work. So, it's crucial that we get it right for those communities, but of course, the whole of Ballarat will be better off for having this work done.