Received the following letter last Friday from VicRoads as a result of my contact with the Ombudsman.

What a load of rubbish. It is totally unacceptable and I will be contacting the Ombudsman again and asking them to follow up with the following questions/observations

1. What is taking VicRoads so long to release the measurements? Have they got something to hide? And why do they quote numbers in the letter when they say the report has not been finalised?
2. The whole of our complaint is that noise levels increased as a result of the work they did. So it does not matter what the noise levels are now because we want to see them before and after to check that they have in fact increased.
3. Speaking with other residents, they have no recollection of any response by VicRoads regarding the letter of complaint I organised and sent to VicRoads last year.
4. I think that contacting David Smith is a waste of time as he, in the past, has just told me how wonderful VicRoads is and the work was a great success. We still want answers!
5. In particular, I want them to categorically state that at no time does the noise level exceed 68 decibels in the vicinity of my property of of Basil St.

On another matter, I have been annoying Michael O'Brien's office to try and get an apology for the the letter he sent me dated 22nd March 2013. Still no success!

Sent the following letter to the Victorian Ombudsman today

I am writing on behalf of local residents about work that VicRoads undertook from May to October 2012 to upgrade the Monash freeway sound barriers in East Malvern.  This upgrade was ineffectual and only resulted in an increase in the noise from the freeway to the point where the noise now is intolerable.  In order to get the situation rectified I have
·      Contacted VicRoads on numerous occasions to complain with no result.  Contact made on  20-10 -2012 (Ref# 500502540) and 24-10-2012 (Ref# 500503666).
·      Organised a petition with local residents to express our displeasure with the upgrade work, see Attachment A.  Between the 14th of November and 1st December I sent a total of 24 of the letters to the CEO of VicRoads, Gary Liddle.  Copies of these signed letters are available on request.  No response to the residents has yet been received.
·      Spoken to the Project Manager, David Smith, on a number of occasions and met with him once to no effect.

As a result of my actions I have received two letters from VicRoads dated 3-12 -2012 and 21-12-2012, see attachments B and C.  I found the letter of 5-12-2012 particularly offensive as it implied in the third paragraph that we residents here near the freeway are second class citizens and can be used for VicRoads experiments.  The letter of 21-12-2012 promises that the test results will be  available in late January 2013 – we still have not seen them.

Apart from the increase in noise from the freeway other areas of concert that we have are
·      Removal of vegetation with subsequent long lead time to replace
·      Substandard workmanship including gaps in the barriers which still exist despite assurances they would be fixed (see attachment B).
·      Carelessness by the contractors during the construction work in leaving barriers down overnight resulting in increased noise and allowing people and pets to wander onto the freeway.
·      Lack of consultation with residents.

I have followed many other avenues (which I understand to be outside your jurisdiction) to try and get the noise problem resolved.  A full outline of the actions I have taken is detailed in a blog I have set up at freewaynoise.blogspot.com.au.

What we, the residents, are trying to achieve as matters for urgent attention by VicRoads are threefold
1.     Reduction of the intrusive and disturbing noise caused by the work that VicRoads undertook last year
2.     Acknowledgement to all the residents who signed the letter to Gary Liddle at VicRoads of their concerns and the steps being taken to address them, and
3.     Publishing of the noise test results as promised in Attachment C.

Other residents have also complained to VicRoads with no success.

We have been constantly frustrated by VicRoads inactivity to address our concerns and hope that you can assist in our attempt to improve the situation.

We look forward to you assistance.

Yours sincerely

Chris Babarczy

Hopefully some action will com of this.

The following article appeared in the Stonnington Leader on the 16th of April

Very disappointing. It does not get across our displeasure with the whole exercise. In fact it just accepts the explanations given by VicRoads and Michael O'Brien without question.

It seems as though everyone just kowtows to VicRoads and totally ignores the concerns of the residents. My next port of call is to try and interest the Ombudsman and hope that they will look at the issue with more sympathy/understanding than any of VicRoads, Michael O'Brien or the Leader newspaper have done so far. We, the residents, know the noise is worse now than before and yet no one listens!

From the actions (non-actions?) so far of VicRoads it would seem from my suspicious mind that they know they have made a mistake with the new barriers and are now trying to ignore us the residents and hope we will go away. How can we go about getting answers to the questions I posted on 29th March? How can we get some sort of action from them?

As for Michael O'Brien, he has been probably the most disappointing because he has appeared to not care and again how can we get answers from him. His job is, I would have thought, to listen to and try and help his constituents - but he has not. Questions are posted on 29th March.

Photographer from the Stonnington Leader came around today and took photos of a number of residents next to the sound barrier at the corner of Winton Rd and Thornbury Cres.  My thanks to those residents who turned up and were willing to have their photos taken. I can only hope that when the article appears in the local paper it will pressure VicRoads to take some action and improve the noise.

With the receipt of the letter from Michael O'Brien this week it is finally clear that VicRoads do not care about the residents they have affected with their incompetence and are totally ignoring us. Likewise for Michael O'Brien, who while he is supposed to represent the local residents and act on our behalf, is seems he is only a mouthpiece for VicRoads and puts them ahead of the residents. Perhaps he is trying to cover mistakes made.Therefore, I intend to bring this matter to the attention of the press and hope that the following questions can be answered along with lessening of the noise from the freeway.

Questions for VicRoads:

1. Why was so much money spent on the useless noise barriers and now they are refusing to listen to the residents who tell them the situation is worse?
2. Why was foliage removed and not replaced?
3. Why did they not ask for feedback from the residents?
4. Why have they dismissed or ignored resident feedback when given?
5. Why did they allow shoddy workmanship on the upgraded barriers? For example, existing barriers left dismantled overnight which increased noise and allowed pets to wander onto the freeway. Also, at the end of the work large gaps remained at the bottom of the barriers and in the actual barriers.
6. Why have the test results not been published as promised on the letter of 21st December?
7. How can their testing be relied upon when one lady in Thornbury Cres was told that unfortunately no before testing was done?
8. Why was testing not done during the most noisy periods?
9. Why has Garry Liddle not bothered to respond to the residents concerns? 
10. Why, in the letter received on the 5th of December, did they  imply that the local residents were to be treated as 2nd class citizens and used as guinea pigs for VicRoads testing?
11. Most importantly of all, why are they saying that the noise levels have improved and they are ignoring the residents who say that no improvement has been made and the situation has got worse?

Questions for Michael O'Brien:

1. Why has he not responded to the concerns I raised in emails to him on the 6th of February and 3rd of March?
2. Did he raise these concerns with VicRoads?
3. Why did he include in his letter of 22nd March the phrase "trust that the work of VicRoads has helped achieve a satisfactory outcome for your neighbourhood"? This is plainly insulting to us who are totally dissatisfied and suggests he does not appreciate our situation and is ignoring our concerns.

Finally received the following letter from Michael O'Brien. It is not what I expected, in fact it is totally disappointing and the last sentence is if nothing but downright insulting. How could VicRoads have helped to achieve a satisfactory outcome when they have caused the problem with their inept upgrade in the first place and have done nothing to help!

This letter just takes the side of VicRoads and does not address the concerns of the residents.

Where are the results of the noise testing? Why have they not been sent to us as promised in the letter of 21st December?

He also attached the following letter from Terry Mulder the minister responsible. More weasel words!

Have received no response from Michael O'Brien to my email sent to him on 3rd March. I can only conclude that he is not interested in helping us.

Because nothing has been heard from VicRoads and their lack of positive feedback I sent the following email to Michael O'Brien

Dear Michael,

During the past few days, I and other residents have noticed that for some reason the noise from the freeway has become much worse.  The noise now is almost intolerable.  When I contacted David Smith of VicRoads about this he dismissed it immediately and told me I was imagining it.  This is not the attitude I would expect.

As a result of this, and past experiences, we have totally lost confidence in VicRoads and find it difficult to believe anything they have to say. Additional reasons for this are
1.     Lack of acknowledgement of our complaints except for one insulting letter from Bruce Gidley
2.     Lack of asking for any feedback from residents
3.     Dismissal of resident feedback when given
4.     Lack of feedback about noise testing as promised
5.     Shoddy workmanship during the entire project
6.     Removal of vegetation
7.     Promise of before and after noise testing when it was acknowledged by VicRoads to one resident that no before testing was done, and
8.     Lack of noise testing during most noisy periods.

Based on their past history, any findings put forward now by VicRoads will have lost any credibility.  We know the negative impact it is having on our lives and we want it rectified.

Thank you for you assistance.

Yours sincerely

Chris Babarczy

Rang David Smith at VicRoads and had heated discussion with him. My contention, as it has been since day one, is that the noise has got worse since they upgraded the barriers. He says that the numbers prove that it is no worse and that they will go to MPs first and then made generally available. I do not believe any numbers quoted by VicRoads for 3 reasons

1. They made tests during early December and promised that the results would be available by Christmas. Just before Christmas received a letter stating that the results had been delayed (by weather or sme such feeble excuse) and would be available by end of January. It is now end of February and we have not seen anything. Why have they lied to us? Is it because the numbers don't show what they want?
2. The only post-testing I have seen is the microphone that was placed outside my window for a few days and testing for a couple of hours in Basil St. This means that their other testing was done over a very short period which is not representative.
3. One lady in Thornbury Crescent was told by a VicRoads staff member that he regretted that no testing was done before the barriers were upgraded.

Based on these reasons I do not believe that VicRoads will publish numbers that are representative of the true situation. They will only publish something that will justify their expenditure of public money, even if it is not true!

Rang Michael O'Brien to find out what he is doing an why he has been so quiet. Only spoke to casual who took my details and promised that someone would get back to me.

Have received no response from Michael O'Brien to my email sent to him on the 6th of February.

David Smith of VicRoads rang in response to the letter, basically to say there is nothing that VicRoads can do. Their numbers show that there was a slight improvement. Do not believe this based on their past history. They promised to have the results by Christmas last but then sent a letter making the excuse that the weather prevented them completing their tests. Then they said that they would have them by end of January. Then the resident from Thornbury Crescent who was told by VicRoads that not previous testing was done! Can we believe anything VicRoads say?

Sent the following email to Michael O'Brien with a cc to Gary Liddle. Hope this speeds thing up.

We the residents next to the freeway in East Malvern are becoming fed up with VicRoads’ inactivity regarding the increased noise they have caused with their upgrade of the noise barriers.

We are yet to see the results of the noise testing which was carried out last year despite promises by VicRoads that they would be available by now.  In fact one resident was told by VicRoads that no testing was carried out beforehand!  How is this possible?

We have sent letters to Gary Liddle from numerous residents complaining about the increased noise and he has yet to have the courtesy to reply.  Instead we received one letter (which I sent to you on December 5^th 2012) from a Bruce Gidley which I regard as insulting.  VicRoads are treating us with contempt.

Why was so much public money spent by VicRoads on a system that has made the situation worse and is impacting on the residents’ quality of life?  Why are they now ignoring the feedback from the residents?  The whole way this matter has been handled by VicRoads suggests either incompetence or dare I say worse on their behalf.

We demand that VicRoads improve the situation or we will be forced to take the matter to the press and have it played out in public.

Met with David Smith this afternoon. Showed him the gaps in the barriers. He said that the results of the tests had shown that the noise had actually improved since the barriers had been upgraded. I do not believe him. We parted agreeing to disagree. I believe that VicRoads are just trying to jusify themselves with no evidence - they will make it up as they go along!

Received phone call from David smith regarding last Saturday's email. He suggested he come and speak to me and  have me show him the gaps which are still in the barriers.

Sent the following email to Michael O'Brien with a cc to David Smith if VicRoads. Have received no reply from Michael O'Brien.

Dear Michael,

Just to let you know that I received a telephone call from David Smith at VicRoads on Wednesday 16th  January. In that phone call he informed me among other things that remedial work on the upgraded barriers had been completed and all gaps had been filled.

I did a quick inspection of the barriers this morning and noticed that the gaps in the barriers still exist and some of the newly installed flashing had come unfixed leaving further gaps. Why are VicRoads telling us they did things when they plainly did not? Also, why are they happy with substandard workmanship?

Our complaints are genuine. Are VicRoads taking them seriously or only paying lip service to them?

We hope that you can assist because we as residents are becoming fed up with the noise and demand some immediate improvement.

He also informed me that the results of the noise measurement should be available next week.

Received phone call from David Smith of VicRoads this morning. He reported the following

• Remedial work on the upgraded barriers has been completed. This has included filling of gaps and moving dirt around. I have not noticed any difference and more importantly no improvement.
• VicRoads have spoken with the manufacturers of the new barriers and they are quite happy that the installation was done properly. I can only conclude from this that VicRoads has been had!
• Should get the results of the noise level testing in the next week (provided there are no hold ups e.g. the weather). I will bet now what the results of the test will be - no action will be taken by VicRoads!

Told him once more that we are not happy with the work and want it fixed.