Riordan blasts Cheeseman on parliamentary questions

POLWARTH Liberal MP Richard Riordan has blasted neighbouring MP Darren Cheeseman for the latter’s questions to the Labor Government on the floor of state Parliament, saying they can “only be described as a pure act of laziness and contempt for his electorate”.

Mr Cheeseman, who is the independent member for South Barwon after being expelled from the Victorian parliamentary Labor Party just over a year ago, asked two questions during yesterday’s (Thursday, May 15) session of question time in the Legislative Assembly.

The first, to Premier Jacinta Allan, was: “With the federal election now out of the way, is there any remaining impediments to delivering Suburban Rail Loop?”.

In her answer, Ms Allan said her government was pleased to have the Albanese Government as a partner in Canberra on major projects “that Victorians want and need”.

“That big investment Sunshine station… does not just unlock a train line to the airport, it unlocks more train services to the west. It unlocks the connections for the country train services from Geelong, Ballarat and Bendigo to travel through Sunshine and connect into the city or into the airport as well.”

Mr Cheeseman then asked a supplemental question: “These big infrastructure projects are not only important for getting people around Melbourne, they’re also important for unlocking future housing. Why is this important for Victorians?”

Ms Allan’s answer criticised the Liberals for “voting against the building of more homes”, which led Mr Riordan to interrupt and unsuccessfully move a point of order on relevance, arguing “The electors of South Barwon clearly would get no benefit from that member’s statement, and the Premier was not relevant.”

The Premier asked for Mr Cheeseman’s resignation from Labor in May last year, which followed multiple allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards female staff, and he has asked very few questions in state Parliament and has kept a very low profile since then.

Expanding on his criticism, Mr Riordan later said Mr Cheeseman could have used his “precious question time slot” to get updates on several issues, including “the cancelled fast train to Geelong, the cancelled Commonwealth Games promises, the cancelled Torquay Hospital he promised on two occasions, the delays in the Barwon Heads Road duplication [and] the big new fire service tax, that both the city of Geelong and Surf Coast Shire have rallied against”.

“Mr Cheeseman has not advocated for any of these issues.

“Instead, he used the good will and trust of the people of South Barwon to help prop up the broke and heartless state Labor Government that is taxing the regions to pay for infrastructure in Melbourne.”