MTAG is a community lobby group advocating for a reduction in the number of trucks on residential streets in Melbourne’s inner West.We want trucks to go on roads built for trucks and for Government to work with the community to make it happen.
MTAG is a non-political, unfunded group of residents, including parents, professionals, tradespeople and retirees. Our common interest is a desire to improve the quality of life for our community in the inner West.
We are NOT anti-truck. We do not object to trucks using local streets to deliver to businesses or supermarkets, or moving vans that people use when they move in or out – that would be silly. Our issue relates to the volume of port traffic taking shortcuts and using residential roads which in the last two decades have been rebadged as freight infrastructure.
We’re lobbying for infrastructure to support Australia’s busiest port. (see solutions)
The infrastructure project which can be delivered quickly (within 3 years) and would remove 1 million trucks per year from residential streets is the bypass ramps off the West Gate to give trucks a direct route to the Port of Melbourne. The ramps will take trucks out of residential areas and divert them through industrial areas. These ramps were a key part of the Truck Action Plan outlined in the previous State government’s Victorian Transport Plan and are fully planned and ‘shovel ready’.
Getting port trucks off residential streets is the logical next step for this burgeoning part of Melbourne: a mere 6km from the CBD, full of beautiful parks and gardens, and home to a vibrant multi-cultural community.
It’s inevitable that the trucks will move off residential streets. Everyone – Government, Opposition, The Greens, VicRoads, EPA, Maribyrnong City Council, Department of Health, and the freight industry – agrees that something has to be done, so why not do it now? Every time Government delays the inevitable, they increase the economic and health costs.
We’re not radicals, we’re just residents who demand that the government take seriously their statutory responsibility to protect citizens’ health and safety. MTAG will continue to raise awareness, build support and lobby Government until something is done. We say enough is enough. We want clean air, we want our streets back.
