LIBERAL and Labor MLC representatives for Western Metropolitan Region are calling for action to prevent any more deaths on the St Albans railway crossing.
Recently elected Bernie Finn and Khalil Eideh are responding to residents’ cries. But according to some locals, Derrimut MP Telmo Languiller, who gave his condolences a week after the recent death of a man hit by a train at St Albans railway crossing, has done little to address the problem.
Mr Finn was quick to contact Star last Tuesday after reading Mr Languiller’s comments issued in a press release to Star a week after the accident.
“How many times do we have to see condolences of it after an event like this?” Mr Finn said.
“The bodies are piling up and all we get from Telmo are condolences. It’s not good enough; he should get on and fix this thing, it’s one of the most dangerous level crossings in the state,” he said.
Pressure needed to be put on politicians because the State Government “has got away with murder”, he added.
“I’m going to try and make sure that their shortcomings are brought to people’s attention,” Mr Finn said.
Mr Eideh put a bid in for the State Government’s next budget, asking for $32 million to be allocated for the St Albans railway crossing.
His electorate officer and the chairperson of Furlong Road Action Group, Robert Mammarella, told Star “a budget bid is just a budget bid”.
A meeting between both MLC representatives, Mr Languiller, the St Albans Traders Association (SATA) members and Brimbank City Council to discuss the conditions would be held in April, Mr Mammarella said.
SATA secretary Asip Demiri said local members of Parliament have been “hostile” towards community groups to fix the level crossing.
“It goes to show that as much as we have been jumping up and down and asking various people, what has been proven is that the fault in this case clearly lay with the local MPs,” Mr Demiri said.
“All they had to do was say to the Government, ‘We need to allocate some money here because there’s an issue’, in fact our local MPs have been the problem and not the solution,” he added.
Brimbank City mayor Margaret Giudice said council had been working for years to have the problem resolved.
“I’m sick and tired of it because we need a solution and we needed it yesterday,” Cr Giudice said.
“The community deserves to hear what exactly is going on and we need to hear that from our Member of Parliament,” she added.
