[4][5] In December 2016, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews announced that a re-elected Labor government would build the North East Link at a cost of $10 billion.

[14] Despite this information, in 2002 Transport Minister Peter Batchelor and local ALP state member Craig Langdon publicly promised that the North East Link would not be built.

[16][17] On 10 August 2010, Banyule Council contacted Tim Pallas, expressing its disappointment in what appeared to be a lack of transparency in the planning process for the North East Link and requests: The proposed freeway was a major factor in the resignation of the local MP for Ivanhoe.

[19] On 6 September 2010, Tim Pallas replies to Banyule council advising; On 6 October 2010, a North East Link freeway public meeting was held at The Centre in Ivanhoe.

On 23 November 2010, Ex-Labor MP Craig Langdon letter boxes thousands of residents of Rosanna, Heidelberg and Ivanhoe with flyers titled "No freeway through Banyule" criticising Anthony Carbines who was preselected as his successor.

This state election also saw the narrow loss of the Labor Brumby Government, putting the plans for a North East Link on hold once again.

Further detailed engineering investigations and community consultation was undertaken before finalising a route alignment and design for the road connection.

[28][29] On 14 August 2013, Roads Minister Terry Mulder's spokeswoman Larissa Garvin states that investigations will continue under the new Napthine Coalition government and that "tunnelling will be required to protect existing urban areas and to minimise environmental impact on the Banyule Flats and Yarra River, with further planning work still needed.

[35] In November 2016, the Liberal Federal Government released $15 million in funding for Victorian transport planning including the future of the North East Link.

[37] On 18 February 2017, Victoria Roads Minister Luke Donnellan has announced the appointment of Duncan Elliott (RACV membership and rewards general manager) as the new chief executive of the North East Link Authority (NELA).

On 26 April 2017, Premier Daniel Andrews announced that North East Link planning would begin within the next few months, as $100 million was allocated in the 2017/18 Victorian State Budget for the project.

[41][42] North East Link would complete Melbourne's Metropolitan Ring Road project and is estimated to carry around 100,000 vehicles a day, providing non-stop movement and easier access for freight operators, particularly between the growing industrial areas around Dandenong, Campbellfield and the new freight-hub near Donnybrook.

Banyule City Council has claimed that North East Link fails to effectively complete Melbourne's Ring Road project due to its connection to and reliance upon the Eastern Freeway and would be the only section of the Ring Road to rely on an existing radial freeway as a part of the route.

[47] North East Link is the most expensive road project ever constructed in Victoria and has already faced significant cost blowouts from an originally planned $10bn to $16bn.

"[49] Since the announcement of the North East Link project, several community groups and local councils have voiced their opposition to the planned tollway.

[50] Each had previously passed council resolutions to either not support or to directly oppose the chosen North East Link route.