Federal election 2019: Liberal Alan Tudge wins Aston
Re-elected Aston federal Liberal MP Alan Tudge says Daniel Andrews has no excuse not to build East West Link, after the Coalition’s federal election victory. Mr Tudge said tens of thousands of people across the east wanted the road built.
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Mr Tudge has secured 54.86 per cent of the first preference votes, retaining the seat he has held since 2010.
“I’m pretty humbled by the result to be honest,” Mr Tudge said.
“I want to thank the community for putting their trust in me again.
“We’ve got a big agenda locally which we now have to work on and deliver.”
Mr Tudge said he believed the election result showed that people who worked hard wanted to be rewarded, not punished.
“And our policies backed aspiration and hard work and that’s who we are as a people in the Knox area — people who do work hard, who have saved up for their retirements and we want to support such people.”
Mr Tudge said there was no excuse for the State Government not to build the East West Link, after Scott Morrison promised $4 billion for the project in the lead up to the election.
“There is no excuse for Daniel Andrews not to give it the green light because he doesn’t have to put in a cent, he just has to give the go-ahead for the road to be built,” Mr Tudge said.
“Tens of thousands of residents right across the eastern suburbs want to see that road built.”
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ANDREWS RED LIGHT FOR EAST WEST LINK
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Mr Tudge said Labor’s policies to tax retirees and some small business owners had a significant impact on the election result.
He said his promises to upgrade roads and introduce more commuter parking at train stations were important to voters.
“People can also see we were getting on with the job with the Henderson Rd bridge and we had money allocated for really important projects like the Dorset Rd extension, which has been on the books for decades and finally we’ve got funding to get it done.”
Mr Tudge said the Dorset Rd extension was his biggest and most important election commitment.
He said it was too early to put a time frame on when work will begin.
“We have to sit down and work out the plans with the State Government who ultimately will do the build and we will have to go through a community consultation process,” Mr Tudge said.
“We’ve got $80 million locked in and that’s enough to get the job done.
“I see no impediment now unless for some reason unbeknown to me the State Government would decide that they simply wouldn’t build it, even though they don’t have to contribute a cent towards it.”
Mr Tudge said he had enjoyed serving as the cities, urban infrastructure and population minister, but would do whatever role Scott Morrison asked him to do.
He celebrated his victory with supporters last night at a post-election party at the Wantirna South Football Club.
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