Independent candidate grabs electorate support after getting behind push for O’Herns Rd-Hume Freeway interchange

INDEPENDENT candidate Thomas Di Palma will make the need for O’Herns Rd-Hume Freeway access ramps the linchpin of his election campaign

Access Denied - O'Herns Road interchange still needed

THOMAS Di Palma will make the need for access ramps at the O’Herns Rd overpass of the Hume Freeway the linchpin of his election campaign after nominating as an independent candidate for the seat of Thomastown.

Mr Di Palma, 35, has the full support of the Aurora Community Association and hopes his candidacy helps deliver the remaining target of the Access Denied campaign.

The safe Labor seat of Thomastown is held by Bronwyn Halfpenny with a margin of 21.6 per cent.

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While Ms Halfpenny has not committed to the project, the Liberal party is yet to nominate a candidate for the seat. The only Liberal representatives in the area are Northern Metropolitan Region state MPs Craig Ondarchie and Matthew Guy, who are in the Upper House.

But IT manager Mr Di Palma believes he can make a difference, saying he shared the disconnect felt by his community and the decisions made by politicians.

“I believe that if you feel strongly about something, you should be involved and do something, not just complain about it,’’ Mr Di Palma said.

The Access Denied campaign is asking ‘who will connect O’Herns Road?’.

Mr Di Palma said the O’Herns Rd/Hume Freeway interchange should be completed in conjunction with the extension of Edgars Rd and the duplication of Epping Rd and High St.

“I find travelling along High St almost dangerous at times,’’ Mr Di Palma said.

“All this traffic coming from Wollert and Epping is being forced through Lalor and Thomastown, and those residents are also suffering.”

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With the Melbourne Wholesale Fruit, Vegetable and Flower Market moving to Cooper St, Epping, next year, Mr Di Palma said traffic congestion was only going to get worse.

“The Melbourne market says their traffic is going to be gone by 7am, but 7am is well into the peak traffic,’’ he said.

“If their trucks are entering the arterial roads at 7am that is going to be affecting the locals.

“By the time that traffic hits Thomastown it’s 7.30am and we’ll have B-doubles and B-triples, all these big freight-moving trucks, which are essential to our community, sharing the road with people going to school and work in the mornings.”

Major property investors are calling for urgent road infrastructure to prevent serious impact on the economic viability of the area. Traffic congestion around Epping Plaza, Cooper Street. Picture: Josie Hayden

With The Northern Hospital just down the road, Mr Di Palma said he worried that the increasing congestion would leave ambulances stranded in gridlock.

“I’ve watched an ambulance having to stop and turn off its lights and sirens and wait in traffic because there was no way to get through,’’ he said.

“They’re (State Government) talking about not putting infrastructure into this area until 2035. My child would be old by then, and he’ll be ready to start his own family and he’ll be seeing the same problems.”

The Aurora Community Association has thrown its full support behind Mr Di Palma.

“(The State Government is) talking about not putting infrastructure into this area until 2035. My child would be old by then, and he’ll be ready to start his own family and he’ll be seeing the same problems,” — Thomas Di Palma, Thomastown state independent candidate

Association president Kathleen Ager said it was good to see at least one candidate committed to connecting O’Herns Rd to the Hume Freeway.

“As far as we know, he is the first,’’ Ms Ager said. “All major parties have pledged to extend the rail to Mernda, and we know why — Yan Yean is now a marginal seat.

“We are delighted for our friends in Mernda, but disgusted by the political game that leads parties to ignore the interests of safe seats.”

Aurora Community Association members Peter Dezylva, Tony Francis, Kathleen Ager, Sash Srinivasan, June Dawson and Dianne Mackenzie with Thomastown state independent candidate Thomas Di Palma. Picture: Kylie Else

Ms Ager said political parties with tunnel vision had ignored the population growth and mushrooming suburbs of Epping North, Wollert and other Whittlesea areas.

“There has been no investment in local transport infrastructure,’’ she said.

“As a result, congestion on the roads of Epping North can turn a five-minute trip into a 40-minute journey.

“The Hume Freeway-O’Herns Rd interchange is the only hope commuters have of avoiding the worsening traffic jams on Cooper St, already at a standstill much of the time, once the fresh fruit and vegetable markets open in 2015.”

“Congestion on the roads of Epping North can turn a five-minute trip into a 40-minute journey,” — Kathleen Ager, Aurora Community Association president

Thomastown state Labor MP Bronwyn Halfpenny said she was lobbying for the O’Herns Rd project, but it was competing with other projects.

“The problem is there is such a backlog of work that needs to be done all across the state,” Ms Halfpenny said.

“I support the project 100 per cent and believe a Labor government is our best chance to build this project.

“If not as a direct election promise, then as part of the Labor-promised $1 billion Outer Suburbs Road Fund.

“If Labor wins, I will continue to fight for this project to be funded from the Outer Suburbs Road Fund.”

Mr Ondarchie did not respond before deadline, while Mr Guy is tipped to nominate for the Lower House seat of Bulleen due the impending retirement of sitting member Nick Kotsiras.

You can support the Access Denied campaign by:

Visiting the campaign website here;

Liking Aurora Community Association’s Facebook page here; and

Whittlesea Leader’s Facebook page here.