Michael Sukkar MP

Labor, Don’t Deprive Us of the East West Link

Michael Sukkar, Federal Member for Deakin, today called on the incoming State Labor Government to listen to the pleas of voters in Melbourne’s east and honour contracts to build the East West Link.

Mr Sukkar congratulated Dan Andrews on his victory in Saturday’s election, asking that he pay attention to the needs of people living in Melbourne’s east.

“Although the votes are still being counted, it is abundantly clear that people living in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs support the East West Link and want the incoming Labor Government to honour the contracts to build this critical piece of infrastructure,” he said.

“In a ringing endorsement of the East West Link, all of the State Liberal MPs in our area received strong support at the ballot box and were returned to their seats.

“I ask that Labor listens to this plea and doesn’t deprive local residents of the East West Link.

“People living here are fed up with wasting their precious time stuck in traffic on the Eastern Freeway.”

Liberal MPs Heidi Victoria (Bayswater), Robert Clark (Box Hill), David Hodgett (Croydon), Neil Angus (Forest Hill) and Dee Ryall (Ringwood) were all re-elected on Saturday. The seats of Bayswater, Box Hill, Croydon, Forest Hill and Ringwood fall wholly or partially within the electorate boundaries of Deakin.

The Liberal Party has also retained three representatives for the Eastern Metropolitan Region – Mary Woolridge, Bruce Atkinson and Richard Dalla-Riva.

“I wish to congratulate all of my State Liberal colleagues in the region on being returned to the Parliament after running tremendous election campaigns,” Mr Sukkar said.

“Each of them has done an outstanding job of representing the interests of their electorate and Melbourne’s east, and I know that they will continue to be strong advocates for our region.

“I also want to thank and acknowledge the thousands of volunteers who have been out in support of our local State MPs.”