Liberal MP unleashes at Victoria’s transport boss over speed zone failure

A Liberal MP has hit out at Victoria’s transport boss and his bureaucrats for failing to drop the speed limit outside a Mitcham primary school, warning they would each be personally responsible if a child was hit by a car.

A Liberal MP has unleashed on Victoria’s transport boss and his bureaucrats over a failure to reduce the speed limit outside a primary school in Melbourne’s east, warning they will each be personally responsible if a child is struck by a car.

In a fiery hearing of the parliament’s Public Accounts and Estimates Committee on Wednesday morning, deputy chair Nick McGowan took aim at Department of Transport and Planning secretary Paul Younis about delays in introducing 40km/h speed zones outside Antonio Park Primary School in Mitcham.

Mr Younis was unable to say when the speed limit will be reduced during school hours on a stretch of Whitehorse Rd, despite a departmental review already recommending changes.

The Department is still working through what the changes will look like, blaming the “complex location” for the lack of action so far.

Mr McGowan wants the speed limit dropped outside Antonio Park Primary School. Picture: Google.

Mr McGowan said he was “prepared to pay for the signs myself”.

“All you need (is) to change (the signs) from 80 and 70 kilometres an hour to 40, and I can’t get a basic answer as to when this government will do that,” he said.

“That is a disgrace, and I tell you what, if there’s an accident between now and the time you guys do this work, I’ll be holding each and every one of you responsible, because you’re the ones supposed to run this government department.

“I suggest the department get a giddy up and do the work it’s supposed to do and has identified it has to do because it doesn’t comply with your own guidelines as it currently stands Mr Secretary.”

Earlier in the hearing, Mr McGowan told the bureaucrats that it was unacceptable they had failed to build toilets at the new East Ringwood station.

“It’s a disgrace that in 2024 each and every one of you can sit here and oversee a department and a system that doesn’t have basic public amenities,” he said.

“The Romans were onto this before you guys were, and that was a long time ago. So how on earth do we not have public toilets at public train stations? It’s disgraceful.”

Mr McGowan said he was prepared to pay for the signs himself. Picture: Luis Ascui

Mr McGowan repeatedly accused Mr Younis of wasting his time by not directly answering questions about the state’s infrastructure pipeline.

Committee chair and Labor MP Sarah Connolly accused Mr McGowan of being “incredibly disrespectful”.

“You’re being rude to the secretary and officials before us, and you’re also being incredibly rude to me,” she said.

“You need to treat people with respect.”

Mr McGowan had earlier claimed that Victoria was the worst state at offering public transport services on a Sunday morning, sparking a rebuttal from Mr Younis who said timetables had improved over the past four years.

“We provide a very extensive public transport service across Victoria and I’m not sure how you come to the conclusion that we provide the worst service. It’s an easy statement to make without the evidence to support it,” he said.