Wednesday, 22 March 2023

Matters of public importance

Public transport fares

The SPEAKER (16:01): I have accepted a statement from the member for Niddrie proposing the following matter of public importance for discussion:

That this house notes the Andrews Labor government’s public transport regional fare cap policy for regional Victorians, further noting that:

the regional fare cap for regional Victorians will be the same as the metropolitan Melbourne price;

(2) fairer regional fares will help many Victorians with cost-of-living pressures;

(3) fairer regional fares will encourage more Victorians to connect with family and friends by reducing the cost of travel between regional Victoria and metropolitan Melbourne;

(4) regional tourism and businesses will benefit from the flow-on effects of cheaper travel into regional areas;

(5) investments of nearly $1.5 billion to build 59 new VLocity trains since 2015 are transforming our regional network and creating good quality jobs right here in Victoria;

(6) the government has also committed to 23 new VLocity trains, securing hundreds of jobs over the next three years across the supply chain, and supporting passengers heading to the west of our state;

(7) an extra 800 services have been added onto the V/Line network since 2014 and a further 200 weekend regional services have been committed to which will further benefit regional passengers; and

(8) under alternative proposed policies, regional Victorians would be facing cuts to services to keep the system operational.

Ben CARROLL (Niddrie – Minister for Industry and Innovation, Minister for Manufacturing Sovereignty, Minister for Employment, Minister for Public Transport) (16:02): It is my pleasure to speak on this matter of public importance. At the outset can I say I feel very proud to be the Minister for Public Transport, and I congratulate the member for Polwarth for being here after his elevation to Shadow Minister for Public Transport, because it is a great portfolio where you literally get to change lives with transport equity and help everyday Victorians get to school, get to work, get to TAFE and get to medical appointments.

I want to give a shout-out at the outset to the wonderful staff that work at the Department of Transport and Planning and to all of the train drivers, the union representatives and the V/Line staff, because with this election pledge we made for cheaper fares for regional Victoria to match metropolitan Melbourne, often a pledge like this would take four years to implement. The Victorian government, the Andrews government, never wastes a minute, and we are doing this pledge in four months. It is incredible, and that is the work of hardworking public servants that get up every day to help people get to where they need to get to. So I am very proud as the minister that we have been able to do this.

It is really important, though, to just reflect on the last election too, on 26 November, because Victorians did place their faith in our government for a third term to continue the track record of investing in transport and to continue the track record of not wasting a minute. To think that we have done this in four months – I am very proud of that, because in many jurisdictions right around the world it would take many, many months to do it, if not years.

If you think about this government and this state and what stands out when you think about the pandemic, we were one of the few jurisdictions right around the world that continued to support public transport right throughout the pandemic. New South Wales went to Sunday trading hours for the public transport system. The public transport system in the United Kingdom literally fell into a heap and was taken over, taken back, by the government. This government, the Andrews Labor government, has supported public transport because we see it as an essential service that helps essential workers get to where they need to get to, whether they are medical professionals, health professionals, nurses, doctors, et cetera, et cetera, and we are very proud that we have been able to do that.

Only recently I was at a dinner with staff from Metro and with union representatives as well, where we acknowledged people that have worked for Metro Trains for 50 years. It was incredible. I am not talking about just one person who had worked for Metro Trains for 50 years, I am talking about many, because that is the fulfilment they get out of their role and their job by going to work every day to help people get to where they need to get to every day.

We have heard a lot in this place about cost of living over the past couple of days, but to be frank we have heard this for a lot of reasons, and understandably: interest rates are going up, grocery bills are going up, HECS debts are going up, petrol is going up. Cost of living – no-one can escape that it is a very, very important issue out in the community, and one of the best things that this government is doing is tackling that issue of cost of living through the regional fare cap. This will not only mean it is going to help people put more money in their back pocket but it will mean, Speaker, for someone in your own electorate of Bendigo, that they can literally travel from Melbourne and with the saving they get – for example, Bendigo to Melbourne can cost up to $68.80 but is now going to only cost $9.20; you have almost got a saving of 60 bucks in the back pocket – they can spend it at the lovely Bendigo Art Gallery, the Bendigo cafes and all of that. So it means a lot, and that could go right through Ballarat, Geelong, right around, so what it means is every corner of this state benefits. I think that is the great part of this.

But being the government that we are, again what we have done is even make sure to get through the technicalities at the border communities. So if you are going to Deniliquin, if you are going to Albury – all of these things – 60 kilometres over the border in South Australia, 60 kilometres over the border in New South Wales, you will still qualify for the regional fare cap, because we want to make sure that it is a success and you do not get hooked up on any of those other issues. There is a New South Wales election coming at the moment, and already both sides of politics are coming out looking at different types of regional fare caps for their policies. Chris Minns himself has been down to Victoria to look at how we do transport, so there is no doubt that in Victoria when it comes to transport, when it comes to public transport, when it comes to running the system – rolling stock, our fares – we are the jurisdiction that everyone looks to for how to do things and how to improve things. We are very proud of that.

I did mention Bendigo, Speaker, because you are obviously in the chair, but Ballarat – $45.60; to go to Shepparton, $53.60. Can you imagine if you are doing that four or five times a week? If you are spending nearly $70 a day going from Bendigo to Melbourne, that could be 350 bucks – that is a lot, a full car registration essentially on public transport. This policy gets rid of that unfair surcharge that has impacted regional Victorians and makes a big, big difference, so we should be very proud of that. I can see the member for Lara is in the chamber too, and I am just looking here: Geelong to Melbourne costs up to $30 and can take about an hour – $9.20. That is a massive saving there for the community of the member for Lara, so we should be very proud of that, and it is going to make a big, big difference.

I would also like to just talk a little bit about what it means, though, more broadly. I know the member for Melton is in the chamber too. You have got the regional fares at $9.20. When I was with the Premier we made this pledge up in Ballarat. We have also announced that we will provide an extra 200 services on all of our regional railway lines, across them, beginning in 2024 – importantly, member for Bellarine, beginning in Geelong. That will be a really important announcement, because places like Ballarat, Geelong and Bendigo should all be having that 21st-century public transport experience. But what is so, so important is you have got to remember that to get to Bendigo, to get to Ballarat, you are actually going through electorates like the member for Melton’s. This could mean a really important benefit, so as part of this pledge we are bringing on 23 VLocitys. To retire those old classic fleet trains that are costing the government anyway so much money because they need maintenance, they break down, they do not have the modern USBs, they do not have the bike racks, they do not have all the modern comforts. So you get rid of the old classic fleet, you bring in the VLocitys. They run more smoothly; they do not have breakdowns. They have got the better quietness, the air conditioning, the USBs, the bike racks.

We are forecast to bring in 23; 13 of them are envisaged to go on the Geelong and Bacchus Marsh lines, which will be really important, but on the Melton line as well there will be 10. That is really important reform that benefits all the regions, coming right through the outer suburbs to metropolitan Melbourne, so we should be very proud of that. Other services that we are looking at are Seymour, Shepparton, Traralgon, Warrnambool – we are going to have a big job recruiting train drivers. There is no doubt about that. When you think about the regions, you think about bringing this in time for not only the term 1 school holidays but also the Commonwealth Games, which is going to be a massive boon for regional Victoria. Then to think you are going to get to the Commonwealth Games for literally, whatever it be, a very small price, and obviously I will work closely with the Commonwealth Games minister on how we make public transport embedded as part of the Commonwealth Games, that we have the bus connections and the on-demand transport that we know will be so very important. I did speak about the importance of our cross-border communities. We do know that they are very important, and I am very pleased that we have been able to support them as well.

The other thing I think goes without saying, and I will not spend a lot of time on this, is that those opposite did have a policy at the election of $2 fares. I for the past couple of days have been dealing with questions like, ‘How are you going to deal with overcrowding?’ I have been explaining, ‘We’re at about 79 per cent currently on the V/Line network, so we have capacity. We’re bringing on another 200 services next year. We’re also bringing on new rolling stock, so we believe we have the ability, the capacity, to make this a really big success.’ Then I say to the journalists, ‘Did you have a look at what the opposition policy promise was at the last election? Half-price public transport in regional Victoria and $2 fares in metropolitan Melbourne.’ They say they are the party of financial responsibility, but as the public transport minister I know what that would have cost the state – literally millions and millions of dollars in compensation, because there is no way in the world that people would have been able to get on the train. If they got on the train, they would have been sitting on the floor. I do not know if the drivers would have been passing all stations. Can you imagine the overcrowding of $2 fares? It is actually unheard of.

To the credit of this government, they came out with their policy – we have been working on our policy for years – and we said, ‘No, we’re not going to change tack. We’re not going to be silly and match something that’s completely financially irresponsible and will only drive public transport the wrong way.’ We are very proud of this. I am very proud of what we have been able to do. I know it is smart. It is measured. It will not lead to the issues that the opposition policy would have done. It has been roundly endorsed by the Victorian community. I think I have had probably more emails on the regional fare cap than anything else since the state election – ‘When’s it coming in?’ Indeed, the shadow minister’s office has emailed me a couple of times with a few queries on it. I will not read those out today, in fairness to the shadow minister. That would not be fair to him or his office. But needless to say every corner of the state will benefit from the regional fare cap. I am very proud of it.

The Premier and I were down at Southern Cross station only yesterday, and it was great to be greeting people coming off the V/Line trains with the Premier – to be there on the platforms but, more importantly than that, to go and speak to the people that work for V/Line in the ticket booths. I spoke with Stuart, who worked in the ticket booth. He had only been with V/Line 14 years, and I said to him he was only just starting out, because most people I meet with V/Line have been there 25 years. They are multigenerational, because they just love the railways and love the customer service part of it. But V/Line staff are so, so excited about the regional fare cap. I think it has been an important election policy. As I said at the outset of my speech, to think that we are getting to do this literally within four months is a credit to everyone that works in the public transport system. It is going to be a real boon for regional economies. It is going to be a real boon for jobs, $1.5 billion for 59 VLocitys. We promised 59; another 23 are being procured – literally billions of dollars going into rolling stock.

The VLocity trains, member for Melton, take about 21 months to manufacture. They are manufactured right here in Victoria in South Dandenong with an important maintenance facility in Ballarat. The way we do rolling stock in this state is something we should be very proud of. We know the opposition did not quite get their rolling stock agenda together when they were last in government. In fact the ACT government, as you have known me to say, had a bigger rolling stock agenda and they do not even have a train service. But that is what happens when a conservative government is in power. Yes, that is what happens. It is hard to believe, but the ACT government had a bigger rolling stock agenda than the Liberal government when they were in office, and we happen to have the biggest tram network in the world. You would think you would put an order in for a tram, at least – just one single tram – but no.

We are very proud of this policy, and to know what we are doing through rolling stock – the VLocitys, the refresh, every corner of the state benefitting – literally it is about rolling out the purple V/Line carpet to regional Victoria and making sure Victorians spend the money where they need to and invest in their local communities, because we know that cost of living is a big issue, Speaker. Your constituents would be talking to you about it. I know you have even spoken to me directly about this policy – when is it coming and when can I tell my local community about it? Well, literally bookings have opened for everyone to book their favourite seat on their favourite V/Line carriage. Booking services are open. It is coming now; it is less than 10 days away. The 31st of this month is going to be a big day. I am excited in anticipation. I am certainly looking forward to being on one of the first trains at $9.20, an equal amount to metropolitan Melbourne. When you think about transport equity and that everyone has the right to a seat, as Rosa Parks said so famously many, many years ago, everyone has the right to a seat on a bus no matter who you are, no matter what your wallet is and no matter your skin colour. Everyone has the right to public transport. Everyone has the right to a seat on the V/Line service and people in regional Victoria should not be unfairly charged a surcharge simply because they may go from Melbourne, or from regional Victoria to Melbourne, and pass through a certain point on the kilometres where they are given a surcharge. I thank the Victorian public for showing their faith in us delivering this policy.

Richard RIORDAN (Polwarth) (16:17): I thank the minister for his kind words at the start of his address this afternoon on my new role in public transport. It has been an interesting start to a new portfolio, because it is interesting listening to the minister and looking at the service he oversees with such rose-coloured glasses on. I am glad in his own mind he thinks he is doing a good job and the government is doing a good job, because I am happy today to address some of the issues in his matter of public importance. Yes, while there would not be a person I think in the state that will not thank a government for lowering the price of something, that is an easy win. We went to the election and we were out of the blocks very early with a great policy for regional Victoria. The minister has told us today that he had been working for four years to come up with a cheaper fare policy for regional Victoria, but it took him about 20-odd days after we announced something to come up with a similar sort of policy.

But the most important thing that the minister has not talked about – this is actually one of the great things this government has been very good at; they love to tell the community what their big-picture spend is and how much money they might be going to save them – and they do not ever want to talk about is the level and quality of service that they deliver for what they say they are spending. I will take a train ride down the line that I am familiar with, and that is the Warrnambool line. That is just one example, and of course with the level of feedback I am getting from other regional Victorians about their level of service it will be a similar type of story. The minister talks about this boom in tourism that we are going to have from the $9.20 fares, and I would say to the minister: Minister, if you were travelling to the country because you wanted to go to a concert like A Day on the Green at Waurn Ponds or you wanted to come through to the Port Fairy Folk Festival or you are going to call by the Kana Festival in Colac or enjoy one of the many visitor experiences you might have down the South-West Coast – you might even want to go and see a sunset at the Twelve Apostles – you would probably have to think once or twice about whether you would bother taking the V/Line service, because regular commuters will attest to the fact that its reliability is ordinary at best. Our stations are rarely manned and supervised by staff to look after customer needs and wants.

For example, the train station in Colac shuts at about 4:30 in the afternoon. There are another three services that people can access, one being a bus service and the other two train services. Now, it is not uncommon for the train to be well over an hour late or longer. Any number of things, not necessarily the government’s responsibility, will cause delay. But if you are an elderly person who has been dropped off by a family member or if you are a young person who Mum and Dad have dropped off and you are waiting for the train and it is June, the middle of winter, you will be left outside – no access to toilets; certainly in the case of Colac there is no public toilet within cooee of the train service; it is unavailable – and you will be left on a cold, wet, south-facing train station with very little amenity, no availability of food or water. And you know, this level of lack of service is something the government has done nothing about when it says it is wanting to make the services more attractive.

The government has also made much of the fact that we will be replacing the old diesel loco sets that have serviced the region for a long, long time – and that is a good thing, because not only do they have a massive carbon footprint, they are incredibly expensive to run and they are becoming increasingly unreliable. Our community certainly welcomed it back in the 2018 election when the coalition promised full long-distance VLocity sets, which would have catering and food services available on those train sets. I think the minister has talked of 23 new VLocity services, which will essentially see the food and water and services cut from those long-distance trains. So people getting on the train at Warrnambool, unless they pack their esky along with all their other luggage, will find themselves without food or water, and if one of the many, many things happens that can cause delays on that journey – car accidents, animal strikes; there are any number of things that will see a train delayed for quite some time – it really raises severe health and safety concerns.

I know that there are already groups along the rail corridor beginning to raise that issue and wondering what the government is going to do about it. If you are a diabetic, if you need to have medication, if through an incidental health concern you need some water or something, what has the government got in place seeing they are now doing away with that? We are not talking about metropolitan services where people are literally 2 or 3 minutes from the next station and could exit the journey if they need to. We are talking about a journey from Warrnambool that is in excess of 3 hours, and on a bad day could be 4 or 5. These are long periods of time to leave people without essential services.

The government has also talked a lot about how this is going to be sustainable – well, the government has not really talked about it being sustainable. The community is asking: is this a sustainable rate cut to the cost of the service? Certainly the independent Parliamentary Budget Office ruled on this not so long ago and said the government’s bid to the community at the election was in fact a very misguided one and a totally underfunded one, and we know that over the next 10 years Victorian taxpayers will be paying an extra $1 billion for this service.

We know that Victoria already is the most indebted state in the whole of Australia. They are going to have to find savings to rein in the excessive and at times wasteful spending of this government, and so country Victorians will be rightly concerned about how sustainable and how long term this service cut is. If it is not, there is only one other way the government will be able to claw back money, and that will be to cut services further. As I said, if you are going to get people using the service more, the service has to get better. Price alone will not drive patronage, and if elderly people and young people are not feeling safe on the service, if they are not reliably being returned and meeting time schedules, then they are not going to use the service.

I guess a way to see the reason the average regional commuter will be concerned about where the government stands in this is just to cut to two really stark examples of this government’s ability to manage this – well, three examples actually. The first example is that when we went to the 2018 election the government promised trains, new VLocitys; they then promptly cancelled them in the 2019 budget, took them out of the forward estimates. The people on the Warrnambool line, for example, the line that goes straight through the heart of Polwarth, have been delayed for quite some time, and we are still on the never-never for when the VLocitys will turn up. So there is a record of delivery on this.

We also had a quiet little scandal unfold during the election period and shortly after, with taxpayer money on managing our public transport regional infrastructure. That was around the VicTrack investment into an Eloque joint venture that VicTrack was involved in. That essentially was the department not worrying about getting toilets open on train lines or making sure that the level crossings were always well maintained or in fact that more train crossings were boom-gated and lit and made safe. No, they were trying to become entrepreneurs in new technology to look after bridges.

There was no shortage of advice coming to this government that their folly into entrepreneurial bridge management technology was foolish, not sustainable and not economic, but this government persisted in spending about $20 million of taxpayers money on this project. They then thought, ‘Well, we know better than the experts. We know better than the financiers’ – a bit of an attitude that seems common in this government – and they then tried to flog this very poor performing product to the Queensland government. Surprise, surprise. Annastacia up there is a brother-in-arms to this government in terms of Labor and its wishes for the community, but they took that to them and guess what? They came back with their independent auditor and said, ‘This is a ridiculous product. We’ll never invest in it. We don’t want it.’ And lo and behold, taxpayers were not saved by good governance in Victoria but saved by good governance in Queensland, which determined that this was yet another waste of resources and funds for the Victorian community.

The other example I will draw on is that in the eight or so years that this government has been in charge they have talked about a fast train to Geelong. Now, I put the fast train to Geelong, sadly, in a similar basket to talks of monorails and mobile networks that work extensively in regional Victoria. They are sort of fanciful government concepts. Rail experts tell me, and you have got to really think hard to imagine how the government can even continue to progress with this, Victorian taxpayers will be spending about $4 billion. Billions now, here in Victoria, is sort of becoming pretty easy language to talk about. Everything this government talks about is $4 billion. It is a bit like the Big Housing Build: $5.4 billion. There is actually, on the most recent reports, $2.5 billion spent for 74 extra houses.

Danny O’Brien: How many extra houses?

Richard RIORDAN: Seventy-four extra houses they got with that spend. Well, this is almost on par –

Members interjecting.

Richard RIORDAN: In fact I have not yet spoken to a builder who could be given $2.7 billion and only end up with 74 houses. Most builders tell me that is actually almost an impossible task. However, this one is almost as good. This is for $4 billion. We are going to put an extra piece of track between Geelong and Melbourne out in the outer metropolitan area, and for this very fast train to Geelong we are going to spend $4 billion – I think it is 11 kilometres of track – and we are actually going to increase the time to Geelong by 6 minutes. That will collectively mean that in the 1880s you could get to Warrnambool nearly 15 minutes quicker on a steam train with about another 15 stations than what you will in 2023 with the Victorian state Labor government’s very fast train project. I think that is actually an amazing achievement of this government, to have spent so much money for so little outcome.

As I said, I was actually quite flabbergasted that you could spend nearly $3 billion and only get 74 houses, but to spend $4 billion on a train line and actually go backwards in time is equally a large achievement. So I would stress to the minister that while he is trumpeting his extra commitment to rail by cutting fares, he has got a lot of work to do and this government has got a lot of work to do to actually give the productivity and the value proposition improvements to the Victorian people and particularly regional Victorians.

In conclusion, in the last couple of minutes I have got, unlike in metropolitan areas, when you go to a regional town as I said you will often arrive late at night, with early morning departures. Most country regional communities do not have extensive taxi networks, public transport networks or bus networks, and Victorians remember that this government has not reformed or updated regional bus services for more than 35 years. Take a regional area like Geelong – and I am sure Ballarat and Bendigo would be similar: they have had enormous growth over the last 35 years, and they have not been able to add to or grow those networks. For example, in Geelong, when we try and connect the various elements of public transport, we have got a ferry coming from Tasmania, we have got a ferry coming across from the Mornington Peninsula, we have got regional trains coming through from the Warrnambool direction and we have got outer towns with bus services, and there is no coordinated effort to mix them up. So if you are coming on the Queenscliff ferry, you know that ferry is going to arrive approximately 10 minutes after the bus leaves to go to Geelong, which means that if you are in a hurry or if you are wanting to plan your journey, you are not really looking at the public transport offer here in Victoria as a viable and a good way to get around unless you have got a lot of time on your hands.

One of the challenges that exists is genuine, true reform to the way we operate public transport in regional Victoria. For example, we still have a situation where we have not tried to bring transport equity. The minister talked a lot about access equity by lowering the price, but what about transport equity? What about a town like Hamilton, for example, which is a similar size to Colac and yet only has two return bus services compared to, say, the six train return services that a town like Colac would have? Why hasn’t the minister actually put some resources and effort into trying to balance out the availability of services, rather than this sort of very loose promise that does not really have a budgetary commitment behind it to lower the cost of V/Line fares?

The opposition will welcome – particularly regional MPs like me and the members for Gippsland South and Narracan – the fact that our constituents will get around more cheaply, but we are worried for them that it will come at the cost of reliability, the cost of safe services and the cost of services that will be sustainable into the future.

Michaela SETTLE (Eureka) (16:32): I am absolutely delighted to rise to speak on this matter of public importance (MPI). Indeed it is incredibly important that this house notes the Andrews Labor government public transport regional fare cap policy for regional Victorians. I am absolutely delighted. This goes to the absolute heart of everything that I care about in this place, which is around regional equity. It has been quite the thing listening to the Shadow Minister for Public Transport talk to us here about this policy when, as we all know, they went to the election first of all forgetting regional Victorians altogether, offering a $2 fare and then remedying that later by offering a 50 per cent cut, which would see us in regional Victoria pay 20 times the amount of the city people. I have said this before, but the Liberal Party have as many people –

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Gippsland South will come to order.

Michaela SETTLE: called David as they do regional MPs, and that is why they have so little understanding about regional Victoria. I would suggest that this gives them a great opportunity to get on a train, get out to regional Victoria and see what we are all about. I have got a particular offer for you on the other side, because this comes into effect on 31 March, and 31 March is –

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Polwarth, you have had your turn.

Michaela SETTLE: The 31st of March is a particularly auspicious day because it is also trans visibility day, and I am really proud that in Ballarat we are going to be raising the flag in a civic ceremony for trans visibility day on the 31st. So I make an offer to all on the other side of this house to come to Ballarat and help us raise the trans visibility flag – and, guess what, you can do it for $9. No excuses. I hope to see you all there.

This policy, as I say, really goes to the heart of what I care most about, which is around regional equity. It was an incredible day standing there with the Minister for Public Transport and the Premier in Ballarat when they announced this policy. We were surrounded by the maintenance workers from Alstom and many people that were so pleased to see this policy come into effect. The reason people like this policy so much is that it has a whole range of aspects to it. Of course it is around cost-of-living help, but it is also around regional equity and tourism.

Last week the opposition MPI was around the cost of living. They seemed at that point to be very concerned about the cost of living, so I really hope that they support this policy, which really is a major boon to the cost of living for families in regional Victoria. As the minister has already said, for people that live in Ballarat and travel to Melbourne we are talking about a saving of $36.40 a day. That is enormous – $182 a week. I have got some very dear friends who are delighted about those savings, but it is not just about commuters, not by a long shot. This is about families. It is about students. I am the mother of two gorgeous boys who are studying in Melbourne at Melbourne University and I do get a bit grumpy about the regional inequity. Kids in the city stay living with their parents while they are at uni. My boys have to go to Melbourne. Part of the reason they have to pay Melbourne rental rates is because they cannot afford to travel on the train, though I will say at this point it is not that they cannot afford it because I pay for their Myki tickets. So it will be a great saving for me. But I guess what I want to say here is that it is not just about commuters, it is about families and it is about students. It is about accessing all of the things that we deserve to have access to in the regions. Ballarat has got an extraordinary healthcare service, for example, in Grampians Health, and I am delighted that people across the region can now more easily come and use that service.

I do not want to get caught up on that Ballarat–Melbourne line. There is so much more to this policy. It is about every V/Line service, it is about every bus in regional Victoria so people in the township of Meredith can now get to Ballarat and use the TAFE, the wonderful Federation University, the Grampians Health services. It is, as I say, really around an equity piece, but it also brings so much into places like Ballarat. Federation University is a wonderful university, and I am very proud of it. It has one of the highest first in family to go to university and this means that people in further afield electorates can come and use those wonderful facilities. Of course it will bring tourism to Ballarat. In my electorate I have the amazing Sovereign Hill and the Eureka Centre, and I hope to see lots of people come from across all of Victoria to enjoy those things. There is the ChillOut Festival and again I would invite those from the other side to get on a train and get to the ChillOut Festival next year and see what real inclusivity looks like. There is the Western Bulldogs playing at the Mars Stadium and the Commonwealth Games. There are so many reasons to travel.

Something that underpins most of the things that we think about on this side of the house is jobs. We care about working people. That is why we were created, and we will always put working people first. What is fantastic about this announcement is it is not only great for regional Victorians but great for manufacturing workers. Ballarat is a very, very proud train manufacturing town. We have Alstom and UGL and they continue to get work through this government. More than 250 people will be employed on the factory floor at Alstom in Dandenong and, closer to my heart, more than 100 workers across the maintenance sites in Ballarat.

The opposition are pretty quick to criticise, but it is pretty extraordinary when you look at the actual facts. We have doubled annual spending on regional rail services since we came to office in 2014 – we have doubled them. I know that the wonderful member for Ripon will have more to say on this, but many of you in this house know how I feel about the Kennett government ripping trains out of Ararat. I saw what it did to my home town and it was terrible. I can only say that I am very glad that we now have a representative for Ripon who is someone who cares about the region and not just their sneakers. They are there to look after the people of Ripon. Of course it was a Labor government that put that train back in.

As the minister did, I too would like to thank everybody that has been involved in putting this policy together. As he pointed out, this can take years and years to develop, and it is incredibly important to have this regional equity get out to the regions as soon as possible. I do thank the minister, I thank his department and I thank every person in V/Line who has worked so hard to get this done so quickly. As an aside, I was delighted to hear about the border communities in my role as Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Development, and I am delighted to be working with the cross-border commissioner. It is something that we really need to keep at the heart of all of our policies, and I am delighted that the minister for transport has made sure that those border communities were there in his mind as he was formulating this policy.

In conclusion, as someone who has lived in regional Victoria all my life, I have seen the rapid increase in services that this government has put into regional Victoria. As the member for Polwarth said, it is not just about money, it is all about services, and of course those services have increased dramatically in Ballarat and will continue to do so. From 2024 there will be 200 new services on the weekend. Shadow Minister for Public Transport at the desk, if you would like to come on up, I can promise you there will be 200 more from 2024. So is not just about money, it is about services, it is about jobs, it is about regional equity – all of the things that those of us on this side of the house care about. By contrast, the previous Liberal government built not one single solitary piece of rolling stock.

We have doubled the expenditure on regional rail. This government cares about regional Victoria and understands that we deserve equity, we deserve the same services the city folk get, and the reason this government is so strong on that is because we have so many fantastic regional MPs. We have 18 regional MPs who stand up for all corners of this great state, and that is why we see policy like this that creates equity for regional Victorians, as opposed to those on the other side, who did not build a train and invested half as much money into rail services. We stand for regional Victoria.

Danny O’BRIEN (Gippsland South) (16:42): I am pleased to rise to speak on this MPI, given the critical role that I played in the policy that we are now debating in the government’s matter of public importance. It was on 9 October that I stood with the former Leader of the Opposition and announced our $2 fares policy for local transport, for local Metro services and for local buses in rural and regional Victoria. I knew we had hit a bit of nerve when the media release went out at 7 am, and the Minister for Transport and Infrastructure was on the radio at 8 am excoriating us in the worst possible terms for not including V/Line in our announcement. She was not to know of course that there was still a V/Line announcement to come two days later. But I know why the minister was so upset. Clearly the Labor Party had no policy on regional rail fare savings because it took three weeks – the minister at the table, the member for Niddrie, is giving me a wry smile because he knows it is a fact that the Nationals and the Liberals actually delivered this policy first and that they then had to scramble and say, ‘Well what are we going to do? We can’t just match it, we’ll have to do something better.’

So here we are: we have now got the government once again following the Nationals when it comes to public transport policy, and they did come to the party with this policy now of $9.20 regional fare caps, which is good for those of us that have got regional services. I am very pleased to be able to speak as the Nationals rep on this MPI, but there was a bit of competition for it. Some of my colleagues wanted to have a go. The member for Lowan in particular wanted to have a go. She said, ‘Well, I just wouldn’t mind a service.’ As the member for Polwarth said a moment ago, places like Hamilton have two services; my colleague the member for Lowan has to go from Horsham to Ararat to get on a train, and even then she got a bus in from Melton this week. We could talk about all those areas of regional Victoria that do not get any services, and I will go to some of the –

Members interjecting.

Danny O’BRIEN: Well, we could also talk about broken commitments. I mean, I know the member for Mildura would like to talk, and I would also like to talk about South Gippsland, both of which the Labor Party promised to reopen. And what has happened – we still do not have anything. So do not talk to me about what happened back in the 1990s before half of your side were even born. You made promises to reopen lines, and you did not deliver.

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Eureka, you have had your turn. Member for Polwarth, you have also had your turn.

Danny O’BRIEN: Thank you, Speaker. I get a bit fired up when it comes to promises about regional rail because particularly the other member for Bendigo, the member for Bendigo East, likes to always have a go at what happened in the 1990s, but she never mentions the failures of the Labor government that came along and failed to actually deliver on its commitments to reopen those lines, particularly Mildura and Leongatha. But as I said, the member for Lowan would just like something decent. They do not have much in the way of public transport there – the Overland, in trouble over the years. The member for Shepparton, I know I have asked a number of questions of ministers, including the one at the table, the Minister for Public Transport, at the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee over the years, and we discovered that despite the government announcing, I think in 2018, that there would be nine services a day to Shepparton, we did not find out until last year in PAEC that in fact those promised VLocity trains will not be delivered until 2027 – 2027! You know, it is all spin. It is all ‘We’re going to do these great things’ but actually delivering on it is the thing.

The reason I am raising these issues is because, like the member for Polwarth said, as much as people will appreciate the cost savings in cheaper fares, I do not think in my eight and a bit years in Parliament I have ever had anyone come to me and say the fares were too expensive.

Juliana Addison: Seriously?

Danny O’BRIEN: Because what they want is an actual service that turns up on time. They want a train that comes up as a train and not as a coach, and I am looking at those over there who are saying, ‘Oh my God, you’ve never had anyone complain about cost. We’ve got 4000 services a day in Ballarat, they complain about the cost all the time.’ Well, when you have only got three a day, that is what people come and complain to you about. And when you are in Gippsland, there is an actual joke. There is a cartoon in Gippsland of a little kid getting a train set for Christmas, and it comes with a bonus bus, because that is what it always is in Gippsland. For the last six years in particular you have to actually check to find out. I want to catch the train to Melbourne, will it be a bus? You are actually better off saying ‘I’m going to catch the bus to Melbourne, I wonder if it might be a train?’ – because it just does not happen.

So much of that has been about the Level Crossing Removal Project, which is another area where the government has stuffed up Gippsland rail services, because Bendigo, Ballarat and Geelong – and it is all very easy for those over there to say – have got the regional rail link. The regional rail link, I might add, was delivered by the former member for Polwarth at a $400 million saving and ahead of schedule compared to what was promised by those opposite. But Geelong, Ballarat and Bendigo have got a regional rail link –

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Kororoit can I remind you that when you pass the mace, you must bow.

Danny O’BRIEN: I have lost my train of thought now, and it is of all people the Rail, Tram and Bus Union who have done it! It is a conspiracy, Speaker. It is the RTBU trying to put me off.

But we do not have a dedicated Gippsland line. I caught the train here on Monday, as I often do when there is a train running. So I caught the train here, and as is always the case we rocketed along to Pakenham and then we got to Pakenham and we got stuck behind a Metro train and naturally enough we were 20 minutes late coming into town because there is no dedicated line, and now the government has gone ahead with its sky rail through the south-eastern suburbs there is virtually no possibility that you can put in a dedicated line to Gippsland because the government did not plan for it.

I talk about delays on these things. The government announced the Regional Rail Revival project, which is a good project and I support it, and it is funded 90 per cent by the former federal coalition government – 90 per cent. So when it comes to metro trains, when it comes to level crossing removals, this government can find the money for it out of its own pocket. When it is regional stuff, we will get the feds to pay for it. Indeed the feds did pay for it. My colleague the federal member for Gippsland Darren Chester came to the party and actually said, ‘Well, this is stuff that we need, so we will fund it.’ But in 2017 the Labor government announced in its budget the Regional Rail Revival and the member for Bendigo East, who was the minister at the time, said on 1 May:

We’ve done the planning work, we’ve done the business case work and we’re ready to go.

Member for Eastern Victoria Ms Shing said the project was shovel-ready. Well, that was 1 May 2017, and if you go to the Gippsland rail revival line upgrade website now there is an FAQ and it actually says:

When will the Gippsland Line Upgrade be complete?

It says:

Major construction of the station upgrades is complete, with station precinct works to be finished in the coming months.

There are two more sentences, and it still does not tell us when the whole project is going to be complete. So 6½ years after we got told it was shovel-ready, we still do not have anything. Why is that important? Yes, we want the upgrade – of course we want the upgrade – but we want the upgrade so that we can have some additional services, and we have still not got any commitment from this government for additional services on the Gippsland line. We have got 19 services a day from Traralgon and three to Bairnsdale, including Sale. The populations of Wellington and East Gippsland shires, for those opposite, tally up to nearly 100,000 people. There are nearly 100,000 people between those two shires.

Richard Riordan: That is nearly Ballarat.

Danny O’BRIEN: It is nearly Ballarat; thank you, member for Polwarth. That is exactly it. There is what – 24, 23 a day from Ballarat? And yet we have got three services a day, when there are trains – when they run, because of course they do not run on time. I thought, ‘Well, I’ll just pluck the latest figures out from the V/Line website about punctuality.’ Gippsland line – that is to Traralgon – the target, 92 per cent; the delivery in February 2023, 79.6 per cent. For the Bairnsdale line, 88.4 per cent. You can go back over years and years and years and you will find that that is the same each time. The service delivery is absolutely appalling, and it is wonderful to have cheaper fares, but as I say again: no-one has ever said to me, ‘God, I’d catch the train if it was cheaper.’ They would catch the train if it was there, if there were more services and if it was timely, and it is not. Indeed a number of years ago the Rail Futures Institute completed the Gippsland rail needs study, and it showed that in 1990 the fastest journey from Sale was 166 minutes. In 2016 it was 163 minutes. So we have got a 3-minute improvement in nearly 30 years. To Bairnsdale there had been no change, so there had been no improvement in service times and indeed no improvement in the number of services to Sale and Bairnsdale since 1990. I was very proud to take to the election that we would bring an additional service to Sale. The government needs to listen to the community. We need cheaper fares, but we need better and more services.

Juliana ADDISON (Wendouree) (16:52): It is wonderful to follow the member for Gippsland South, although I will have more fact rather than the fiction that he was talking about in terms of our planning and in terms of our commitment to the people of Victoria, because we know –

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Member for Eildon, you are not in your allocated seat.

Juliana ADDISON: We know backing the inner city with these $2 ridiculous fares was never going to happen. You know you were not going to win. You said anything – the promises you made were absolute rubbish. This was well thought out, well-planned and timed for 2 November to get the most punch as we entered into the campaign, and it is great. I really, first and foremost, want to thank the Minister for Public Transport, the member for Niddrie, for submitting this matter of public importance. As Minister for Public Transport, the member for Niddrie is so passionate about his portfolio; he is a regular public transport user and someone who cares deeply about access and equity for all Victorians. I congratulate the minister for delivering this. You talked about the four months, and the day on 2 November, and look: 31 March –

The SPEAKER: Through the Chair, member for Wendouree.

Juliana ADDISON: Through the Chair, it was 31 March, from announcing it on 2 November. People were like, ‘But when? Is it going to be after the budget? Is it going to be eventually? Is it going to be during the four years?’ Not during the four years of this term, but four months – four months into this term; it is very, very, very exciting. So I congratulate you for that, then, Minister, and I would love to have you come to Ballarat – catch the train to Ballarat – and come and stand on the station with me. Let us do that.

I am thrilled to be given the opportunity to talk about how the Andrews Labor government is delivering cheaper fares, not only for regional Victorians but for all Victorians. This is an announcement that has been very much welcomed by my communities, and the comments on my Facebook page give us a bit of a snapshot of their responses. Alicia Jane:

Fantastic! About time we weren’t penalised for living in the regions. Nearly $50 a day full fare was a big disincentive to go to melb and vice versa!

I do not know what the Welcome Nugget Bike Hire is, but they love this. They have written on my Facebook:

Love this!

Chuol:

Great news … I spent 45 dollars every single day I want to Melbourne.

… well done to Dan Andrew Government.

Daniel:

We would always drive to Bacchus to get on a train for the metro fare, always worked out cheaper especially when a few people are travelling

…

… cannot wait for the 31st …

Novia:

Great news … I spent 45 dollars every single day I want to Melbourne … We would always drive to Bacchus to get on a train for the metro fare, always worked out cheaper …

Mithrani:

Awesome

Emma:

Cannot wait!

Laurence:

Great news

Fair fares to regional Victoria are a game changer for my community and for all of us. The unfair costs experienced by regional train users was an issue that I raised shortly after being elected. When you saw that you could get zone 1 and 2 all the way to Melton and then suddenly the prices skyrocketed as soon as you left Melton, it was not fair, it was not right and it was not on. This is what this is about addressing. I know that fairer regional fares will help many Victorians with cost-of-living pressures by reducing fares and creating an alternative option to taking the car, thus reducing petrol costs. These new fares will also encourage more Victorians to connect with family and friends by reducing the cost of travel between regional Victoria and metropolitan Melbourne. I know my mum is very excited at the thought of the grandkids coming up and using that service and being able to spend more time with them in Ballarat.

These new fares will be a catalyst for people to visit the regions and discover what Victoria has to offer. This is great news for regional tourism and businesses, who will benefit from the flow-on effects of cheaper travel in regional areas. I look forward to seeing waves of Western Bulldogs supporters catching the train to Ballarat and heading to Mars Stadium to see the AFL and others heading to Ballarat from August to October for the Ballarat International Foto Biennale.

I had the pleasure of joining the Premier, the Minister for Public Transport, the Minister for Transport and Infrastructure, the member for Eureka and the newly elected member for Ripon in Ballarat East for the announcement of the election commitment that, if re-elected, the Andrews Labor government would introduce a regional fare cap for regional Victorians, which would be the same price as the metropolitan Melbourne price. But it was not just that; I also welcomed that an extra 800 services have been added on to the V/Line network since 2014 and a further 200 weekend regional services have been committed to, which will further benefit regional passengers and our metropolitan visitors.

We are not only making regional fares fair, we have also as a government committed to 23 new VLocity trains, securing hundreds of jobs over the next three years across the supply chain and supporting passengers heading to the west of our state. We have invested $1.5 billion to build 59 VLocity trains since 2015 and are transforming our regional network and creating good-quality jobs right here in Victoria. It has been said before and it will be said again: we are building trains in South Dandenong, not South Korea.

For people living in my electorate of Wendouree, the fare cap means a huge 80 per cent saving for a daily peak from Ballarat, with the fare being slashed from $45.60 to $9.20 full fare, and for those with a concession that saving will be close to $20, with the fare being slashed to $4.60. I have been a V/Line passenger for decades, relying on the Ballarat to Melbourne service to get to uni, to work and to social outings and events. The high cost of regional train fares has been a point of irritation for a long time in regional cities and communities, unlike in Gippsland South, and the introduction of capped regional fares is a game changer for workers, students, families and older Victorians.

It has been said before, but I will say it again: Labor is the party of regional Victoria. We have more regional members than any other party in this place because we understand the issues of regional Victoria. About one in five Victorians live in the regions, and why wouldn’t you? Regional Victoria is the best of Victoria. There is no place I would rather be living than Ballarat, with great schools, world-class hospitals and low unemployment. Ballarat is a thriving cultural and sporting centre with much to offer.

I am just going to shout out to the others who are speaking on this. I am proud to be speaking on this MPI with a bevy of strong regional Labor MPs, following on from the member for Eureka, and I am looking forward to hearing the contributions of the member for Ripon, the member for Lara and the member for Bellarine. I also know that the member for Bass is very excited about the new fares, as is the member for Geelong, the member for Macedon and the Bendigo members, because these new fares are something we all know will make a significant difference to the lives of people in our communities. As someone who was born and bred in regional Victoria I understand the need for regional fares capped at metro prices. It is about equity, it is about fairness and it is about access. It is about opening Victoria up to all Victorians and encouraging people to move more freely and more cheaply in our great state. It is also about opening up opportunities in Ballarat at Federation University and Federation TAFE for students to our north, our south, our east and our west, with daily concession fares of just $4.60, and encouraging workers to think about the financial cost and economic cost of driving to and from Ballarat in their own cars, rather than taking public transport. There are also the great environmental benefits of using public transport.

What these fares will also do is remove barriers to accessing the Melbourne Zoo, the Melbourne Museum and the National Gallery of Victoria for individuals with limited disposable income and families on tight budgets. Some Victorians have never been to the beach. These fares make the beach an option for country kids. A fare to Geelong train station then a bus down the Great Ocean Road to Anglesea, Lorne or Apollo Bay for $9.20 full fare or $4.60 concession makes that bucket list item achievable. Likewise a trip to Echuca and a ride on a paddle-steamer or a visit to the latest blockbuster exhibition at the Bendigo Art Gallery – these fares are making them all possible. This is great news for existing V/Line passengers, who will benefit from our fairer fares, as well as many more Victorians who will choose to use a V/Line service in the future, perhaps for the first time, as a result of these savings.

My hope is that capping regional prices will encourage regional people to get out of the car. Just think how much more relaxed you are going to be, instead of trying to navigate the West Gate, get through the Western Ring Road, go past the prisons, hit the Western Highway and just be waiting in the car park that is the Western Highway, sitting on the train, watching a bit of Netflix, taking a breath, enjoying yourself and cruising into Ballarat station or Wendouree station. Your family are going to appreciate it. You are going to be less stressed. You are going to have more money in your pocket. This is a big winner four months since it was announced. We are delivering it next Friday. This is what good governments look like.

Cindy McLEISH (Eildon) (17:02): This has been an interesting debate with an interesting spin and take on public transport services in regional Victoria. I would like to say that the experience of those living in regional cities is terribly different from those living in smaller country towns. There is no train with Netflix, for goodness sake. People in the country just want some services. What happens in those regional cities is really quite different.

I want to congratulate the former Shadow Minister for Public Transport and Roads the member for Gippsland South for pushing along some of these policies, because it was on 9 October that he made the announcement about $2 local fares and also –

Danny O’Brien: Including regional buses.

Cindy McLEISH: regional buses – that is what it says – and then, two days later, half-price V/Line. It was on 2 November, 3½ weeks later, that the government actually caught up that they might need to do something in this space. Typically regional Victorians always seem to draw the short straw when it comes to accessing adequate services. I really lobby quite hard in my electorate to ensure that we have the same access and quality of services as those living in metropolitan Melbourne, and I know that that is not quite the case. I know that some of our bus stops are in a pretty ordinary condition, and I know that the government actually agreed with me about the bus stop at Merton – that yes, it did need to be upgraded. They said that would happen in coming months, and that was probably 4½, five months ago now. Everyone is desperate to know when the government is going to upgrade the Merton bus stop. They need to have a response. We also have issues with dodgy roads and very limited services. Services may only operate once or twice a day, and that does not really work with regional tourism.

I just want to remind the house – the newer members may be perhaps unaware – of the government’s appalling history with their bus network. It was not so long ago, prior to the 2018 election, that there was a bit of activity because the then Minister for Public Transport, the member for Bendigo East, the Deputy Premier, had a go at getting bus operators and owners to hand over all their assets to the state. The plan was absolutely out of the book of socialism. The Victorian government had a plan to compulsorily acquire bus companies. They had a group of operators who were told to be silent – do not speak about this, it is all hush-hush, all confidential – and then they did start to speak because they knew it was wrong. They refused to sign up to 10-year deals that were going to force them to hand over their buses and their depots to the state at the market value at the end of the contract. So there was a fair bit of back-pedalling, because that did not end up happening. Chris Lowe from Bus Association Victoria was very agitated, as were the bus company operators. Now, it had started, it was going to be in the city and then roll out probably to the regions, and so I heard from a lot of the bus operators how absolutely concerned they were.

I want to draw the minister’s attention to the route 684 bus, and I am disappointed the minister has actually left because it does not matter how much they try and spin it, people in my electorate who rely on the 684 bus are going to lose it. We have got quite a bit of history and background here. This bus travels from the township of Eildon through Thornton, Alexandra, Acheron and Taggerty, over to Buxton, Marysville, Narbethong, Healesville, then it hits the mainstream, Coldstream, Lilydale, Chirnside Park, Eastland. It even goes via the medical precinct of St Vincent’s Hospital in East Melbourne before ending up at Southern Cross station. Not so long ago, in April 2022, a year ago almost, the state Labor government proposed plans to change this bus route with very limited community consultation. Community members were very keen to see this service, and I have heard from very many of these people because they have been very agitated. The community-run Buxton Progress Association’s save the bus action group are working really hard to save this bus route and they are to be commended for their efforts and dedication. In May last year I lodged an e-petition to give them a chance to keep the route operating as it is, rather than have that finish at Lilydale and have people then have to get onto the train network, and not disrupt their journey. The coach passengers particularly enjoy this service for a number of reasons. It is particularly important for small communities because it can get them to and from the city, and it can get them to and from medical appointments. If you have got to go to St Vincent’s Hospital and you live in the small township of Acheron, you can get there and be dropped off just outside. You do not have to chop and change. If you have got an illness, disability or injury, it is very disturbing to lose this opportunity to easily get to East Melbourne – similarly for shopping. Now, the bus drivers are terrific and they provide assistance to people. People speak very highly of the bus drivers and what they do to help.

I have a couple of questions for the Minister for Public Transport: will the minister release the outcome of the community consultations that took place in both Alexandra and Healesville? And, Minister, what is being done to action the community feedback and recommendations? After there was a little bit of argy-bargy about this, the minister thought: we had better do something and start some community consultation. They only did it in Healesville, which was pointless for all the people in the small communities north of the divide, and so they were pressured into having to do sessions in Alexandra, and we have not heard. People want to know what is going on with that.

With regard to tourism, I have a wonderful area that is ripe for tourism opportunities, but there is no train and the buses really are not enough to support it. If you want to go to Yea, Alexandra or Craig’s Hut, there are very limited opportunities to do it. Not so long ago, last year was it, we had bike racks fitted to some buses in the Yarra Valley from Martyrs and McKenzie’s buses, the 683, 685, 686 and 687, which go from pretty well the train areas where they stop at Lilydale through the Warburton Highway, the Upper Yarra and through the Maroondah Highway to Healesville. That is one positive, but they had to fight for it. They thought it would be a no-brainer to get these bike racks, because we have got the wonderful rail trail at Warburton, which is really very popular. We also have great rail trail between Tallarook and Mansfield. These are very popular with bike riders, but it is not very easy to access these on public transport.

Our roads are just not fit for purpose at the moment. The Melba Highway has had all sorts of problems. It carries an enormous volume of tourism traffic, and the Warburton Highway equally so. Last year, I think it was in October or maybe November, the road collapsed at the Warburton Highway and it is still not fixed. They have had one lane of traffic going in and out. Yes, it was good that they worked with the tourism operators and small businesses in Warburton not to close it off completely in January, but here we are now heading to the end of March and the community are still not quite sure.

Then we have a whole lot of little local roads that are relied on by so many who take those little bypasses. I know the Murrindindi shire is, as are many other shires, pretty skint when it comes to being able to service the many, many kilometres of roads and bridges that they have. We have an issue at the moment with the Break O’Day Road in Glenburn. It is going to be closed for six weeks to build a new bridge there. Now, the community is very worried about this because it is going to cause inconvenience and travel delays for drivers and school buses having to pick people up. The council have presented a second option to the community which would allow the traffic flow over the old bridge, albeit with some obstruction, but it would require an extra $450,000 of funding. Now, the shire does not have money for their local roads and bridges, and I implore the government to have a look to work with these small councils that do not have big revenue streams to see if we can do something to help. Now, the residents of Break O’Day Road in Glenburn are desperate for the bridge to remain open while repair works are conducted. So will the minister assist the Murrindindi Shire Council with $450,000 in funding to ensure the bridge across the river on Break O’Day Road remains accessible during this time?

I think there is a lot that still needs to be done on public transport, particularly the bus network in country Victoria. The government had to come along at the last minute to come up with their policies. We were certainly on the front foot there. We really had some great solutions around the public transport in regional areas, you know, the half-price V/Line fares. V/Line fares can add up pretty quickly if you are commuting. As I said, we do not have a lot of services as backup, so there is a little bit more to do in this space.

Ella GEORGE (Lara) (17:12): I am delighted to rise today to speak on this matter of public importance, the Andrews government’s regional fare cap policy. I would like to thank the Minister for Public Transport for raising this important matter and for his leadership in making regional fares fair. The regional fare cap will help all those using public transport with cost-of-living pressures, but at the heart of this policy is fairness and equity, because regional Victorians should not pay more to travel on public transport compared with someone living in metropolitan Melbourne.

The current prices can make it too expensive for families living in rural and regional Victoria to get to work, take the train to visit friends and family or access vital health and education services in other regional cities or in Melbourne. Right now a daily full-fare ticket from North Geelong or North Shore station to Melbourne costs up to $24.80, while a maximum daily fare on the metropolitan network is only $9.20. That is a difference of $15.60. It costs even more if you are coming from Geelong or South Geelong stations, currently $27.60 for a full fare, a difference of $18.40. This is exactly why the Andrews Labor government has changed that and introduced the regional fare cap policy, because this is a government that recognises the importance of making public transport affordable and accessible for all Victorians no matter what part of the state you reside in. This is a government that gets on with the job. On this side we do not waste a day. As the minister said earlier, just four months since the election and this policy will be delivered.

Next week will see the delivery of our regional fare cap policy, and I know many residents across the Lara electorate and the Geelong region are so excited to see regional fares being capped at the same price as metro fares. From Friday 31 March thousands of passengers travelling from regional Victoria will be paying the exact same fare that passengers travelling around metropolitan Melbourne will pay. Someone travelling from the northern suburbs of Geelong tapping their Myki on and off at North Geelong or North Shore station will start saving $15.60 a day ؘ– and this adds up. Over the course of a month an individual may save up to $343 and up to $4056 a year if they are commuting to Melbourne every day for work. These are huge savings and just one of the many ways that the Andrews Labor government is helping families and households with cost-of-living pressures.

As the minister mentioned, the regional fare cap policy is fantastic for those who are using regional rail to get out and explore regional Victoria, and for those living in Melbourne there is plenty to do and see in Geelong. Just a couple of weeks ago we hosted the Avalon international air show, and many visitors caught the V/Line Airshow Express, a dedicated V/Line train to Lara and a shuttle bus to the air show. This weekend Geelong is hosting the Ironman along Geelong’s spectacular waterfront. And who could forget the footy – why not catch the V/Line down to South Geelong station, just a short stroll away from the Cats home ground at Kardinia Park? So many accessible, incredible events, all accessible by regional rail, are now being made cheaper for families to attend thanks to the regional fare cap policy.

But this government’s investment in regional public transport goes beyond the regional fare cap policy. $1.5 billion has been invested in 59 new VLocity trains since 2014. Labor believes trains made for Victorians should be made by Victorians, and some of that work is being done right in the heart of the Lara electorate at RPC Technologies. RPC Technologies is primarily a composites manufacturing company supplying composites to the infrastructure, rail and defence industries. I visited RPC in Corio last year and heard about how they are manufacturing train fronts and train interiors for the 118 VLocity train sets built by Alstom in Geelong. RPC Technologies are evidence of how our investment into rolling stock is also an investment into local jobs, and this government’s $4 billion Regional Rail Revival is upgrading every single regional rail line, including 20 new or upgraded stations across regional Victoria, because on this side of the house we invest in train station and rail line infrastructure; we do not close train stations or rail lines.

Eight hundred V/Line train services have been added since 2014, with a record 2200 regional train services now operating per week. Almost 200 extra weekend services will be added to the V/Line timetable from 2024, with a further order of 23 VLocity trains to meet the demands of a growing network, because Labor invests in rail services, we do not cut them. On the Geelong line this means 308 extra services to and from Geelong each week compared to 2014 and services from Geelong to Melbourne departing every 20 minutes on average in interpeak compared to hourly in 2014. Twenty peak and shoulder-peak services have been extended to and from Waurn Ponds station each week, and there are 12 extra Warrnambool services each week compared to 2014.

In addition to this there have been significant investments into upgrades at local train stations. Lara train station was one of 16 key stations, along with North Geelong and North Shore stations, to receive a share in a $24 million package to deliver improved facilities for all passengers along the Geelong corridor in 2021. At Lara station works have involved a refurbishment of the station waiting room, an upgraded canopy and seating on the station platform as well as an improved public announcement system on the platform. Last year I visited the North Shore train station along with the Minister for Public Transport and the former member for Lara ahead of upgrades to the car park there, and it is thanks to this government’s car parks for commuters program that an extra 200 new car parks will be delivered, along with accessible parking spaces, CCTV and lighting. The minister will be pleased to know that I drove past North Shore train station last week and it is looking fantastic. You can really see the investment at work there. North Geelong train station has received upgrades to the platform shelter, car park and public announcement system. It has also received a refurbished station waiting room and bathroom facilities. These investments into local rail stations are vital for a healthy rail network in Victoria to ensure services run smoothly and commuters have a good experience, and that is something that this government is committed to.

The wider Geelong community will also benefit from Geelong line upgrades, which include the South Geelong to Waurn Ponds duplication project. This will deliver more frequent and reliable services and better stations for passengers on Victoria’s busiest regional rail line. The duplication is part of the Australian and Victorian governments’ more than $1 billion investment into the staged upgrade of the Geelong line. As part of this the Geelong community will see significant station redevelopments at Waurn Ponds, Marshall and South Geelong train stations.

I am thrilled to see that in Geelong three level crossings will be removed: at Fyans Street, Surf Coast Highway and Barwon Heads Road. Although the Level Crossing Removal Project has been a suburban and metropolitan program, I am very pleased to advise the house that this project is well known and well regarded in regional Victoria, and local residents are incredibly excited to see three busy level crossings removed. I am sure that my regional colleagues are just as excited as I am for 31 March, knowing that regional fares will be fair. I am very much looking forward to hearing the member for Ripon speak on this matter of public importance shortly and to hearing about the impact it will make on her community, and we have heard from the member for Wendouree and the member for Eureka about the impacts it will have in their communities and around Ballarat.

As the house can clearly see, on this side of the house we are doing what matters. We are delivering the services that regional train users deserve, because on this side of the house we know, we understand, what regional Victorians want. We have nearly doubled annual spending on regional rail services from when we came to office in 2014, because we invest in Victoria’s rail network, we do not cut services; we build train stations, we do not close them; and we certainly do not close regional rail lines. We are making public transport more affordable and accessible to Victorians in every single corner of the state, from Gippsland to Warrnambool to Mildura to Geelong to the wonderful towns in the electorate of Ripon, and by capping regional fares at the same price as metro fares, we are delivering on that next week. To quote the member for Wendouree, ‘This is what good governments look like.’ I am so pleased to speak on this motion today.

Roma BRITNELL (South-West Coast) (17:22): I rise to speak on today’s matter of public importance, which affects all regional Victorians and will have a direct impact on the most important people to me, the people of South-West Coast. I am a proud regional Victorian, and I have lived in regional Victoria all my life. Places like South-West Coast are amazing places to live, to work and to raise a family. Regional Victorians are a hardy lot. Although we often lack the basic services that our metropolitan cousins take for granted, like safe roads, child care, mobile reception – the list goes on – we make do and we manage the best we can. We navigate potholes on neglected arterial regional roads that are ignored by the government – the Andrews Labor government, who for 18 of the last 23 years have been governing Victoria. One of their legacies is the Princes Highway, highway 1, which is no longer fit for purpose, along with many other of their roads, like Woolsthorpe-Heywood Road, which you will hear me mention many times – no longer fit for purpose.

So when this government finally mentions regional Victoria, you can imagine we are filled with hope, but it does not last long, because this government is like fairy floss – lacking in substance and very bad for your health. This matter of public importance announces that the public transport regional fare cap for regional Victorians will be the same as the metropolitan Melbourne price – great.

Tim Richardson: I like fairy floss.

Roma BRITNELL: Yes, but it is very bad for you. It sounds like regional Victorians will finally have one measure of equality with our metropolitan cousins. But unfortunately the devil is in the detail. This is yet another example of Labor’s old smoke-and-mirrors tricks, which you will often hear me talk about in this place. It is not a secret that many Victorians are doing it tough due to the current increased cost of living, increased interest rates, higher rents, expensive foodstuffs – it does all add up. The government’s public transport regional fare cap policy may provide some short-term cost-of-living relief to some regional Victorians – brilliant. But it will not make a massive difference. Unfortunately, when you scratch the surface it becomes quite clear that this policy is actually unsustainable. This government must come clean on how it intends to fund this.

Brad Rowswell: Hear, hear!

Roma BRITNELL: As the Shadow Treasurer here beside me, I am sure you are very concerned about the overspend of this government that will one day come home to roost, to a point where I do not know how it will be manageable. Analysis completed by the Parliamentary Budget Office has revealed that this government has misled Victorians by stating that its commitment would be a $203 million cost to the state budget. This is an independent analysis. The Parliamentary Budget Office’s analysis has shown that the true cost will be 76 per cent more than originally promised. This represents a $358 million blowout over the next four years and a mammoth $1.1 billion blowout over the next decade – billion, make sure you understand that I said ‘B’ for billion. That is a lot of money in anyone’s language, and it demonstrates just how unsustainable this policy is. The only way this government will be able to deliver cheaper fares will be by raising taxes to make up the shortfall. But then this government is known for blowing budgets and raising taxes, so it is not new. Regional Victorians can expect a massive hike in public transport fares when this sugar hit of a policy is withdrawn, and we know it will be; it is just a matter of when.

This policy talks up the VLocity trains and confirms that this government has committed to 23 new VLocity trains, securing hundreds of jobs and supporting passengers heading to the west of our state. Oh, it sounds good, but – but – the VLocity trains just are not great, and they cannot hack the regional train routes. In June last year we saw that a new VLocity train was forced off the north-east line indefinitely due to damage. The damage was not caused by the track, as the Australian Rail Track Corporation, the body responsible for managing that line, confirmed that it was not a track issue, so the problem clearly lies with the train itself.

But it is just not the shoddy construction of the VLocity trains that is going to be an issue. VLocity trains also lack a buffet car. While metropolitan travellers may scoff at this as an issue, if you travel on regional trains – and I have – you will realise just how important the buffet car is. For example, the first bus leaves Portland at 4:27 am and arrives in Warrnambool at 5:52. There is not much open in Warrnambool and Portland around that time, and there is no buffet or vending machine on the bus. The first train then leaves Warrnambool at 6:12 and arrives at Southern Cross at 20 to 10. To go without a cup of tea and a biscuit from a quarter to 5 in the morning until at least a quarter to 10 is a big ask – and probably too big an ask if you are a diabetic, for example.

But there are also concerns about whether the VLocity trains will have enough seats. The current rolling stock on the Warrnambool line has more than 400 seats available. If the VLocity trains earmarked for Warrnambool ever make it to the tracks – we have been waiting seven years now – they will run in either three- or six-carriage configurations, seating between 222 and 444 people. If we see an increase in patronage, which is what we are being told will happen, it does not look like there will be enough seats. Not only will there not be enough seats but it does not look like we will have enough trains either. It is apparent that more trains will be required, but how can this state afford that expense with major cost blowouts exceeding $30 billion. Our net debt exceeds that of New South Wales, Queensland and Tasmania combined. Again it is all spin and no substance.

This policy also maintains that fairer regional fares will encourage more Victorians to connect with family and friends by reducing the cost of travel between regional Victoria and metropolitan Melbourne. Again, it sounds great. It is all well and good for this government’s spin doctors to spruik that regional Victorians will pay less for public transport, but what is the catch? And we all know there will be a catch; there always is with this government. One catch we already know about is the closure of V/Line ticketing offices. Yes, this government is closing the V/Line ticketing offices throughout regional Victoria. Drivers are now expected to not only drive the bus, tend to passengers and load the luggage, but they are also going to be required to sell tickets too – and with a tablet no less. In regional Victoria, with all our well-documented problematic internet and mobile coverage, bus drivers are expected to sell tickets with a tablet.

Brad Rowswell: Like an iPad.

Roma BRITNELL: Wow! Yes, it is wow. What will happen if the bus is full, because it probably will be now that travel is so much more affordable? Will passengers be left on the side of the road for the next bus? Is a 16-year-old girl going to be dropped off by family expecting a bus to come but then the bus is full? Is she going to have to wait 6 hours or even until the next day? I actually heard about these cases just last week from a bus driver who I was speaking with.

What about those using public transport to get to Melbourne for that important appointment with medical specialists? ‘Sorry, love, wait for the next bus’ might just mean a missed appointment that results in the tumour becoming inoperable. I am not being dramatic. These are real stories. These things actually happen when you miss medical appointments when you are relying on public transport. A failure to plan is a plan to fail. Failing to adequately plan policies can and does have real consequences in regional Victoria.

This policy is designed to get more people onto public transport, and for much of regional Victoria some or all of this travel will be by train. This government has failed to address how infrastructure will keep up with the anticipated increase in demand. The Warrnambool line carries a mixture of passengers and freight, it is already congested and I am reminded of an incident in March 2021 when I was contacted by a constituent who operates a freight service on the Warrnambool line. This constituent told me that his train schedule was changed at the very last minute, making him unable to send a train out of his yard on the Friday evening, which in turn meant that he missed the return service on Monday. This freight operator was given just over 48 hours notice to find enough replacement trucks to get his product to the port for their load times. It was done, but at huge cost. I was speaking at the freight conference just on Monday to freight train operators across regional Victoria saying it is chaos when the government does not plan properly and leaves them in these situations. How many regular freight train cancellations will businesses need to factor into their business plans when they do not get the information? Victoria’s roads are not coping already, so how will they cope with the extra burden of regularly cancelled freight trains?

In conclusion, the government never ceases to amaze me. I am often reminded of The Emperor’s New Clothes, the wonderful children’s story by Hans Christian Andersen. I am sure many are familiar with this cautionary tale, but it is the story of an emperor who spends lavishly at great cost to his state. The emperor hires some weavers, who promise to make him look fine in his invisible clothes. Everyone knows that it is a farce, but no-one is prepared to call it out, until a child, when the emperor is walking up the street totally naked, says ‘The emperor’s got no clothes on’. The people were all conned, they knew it, but no-one was prepared to say a word. This policy and the emperor’s new clothes share many similarities.

Martha HAYLETT (Ripon) (17:32): I rise to speak on the matter of public importance submitted by the member for Niddrie today, and what a matter of public importance it is – that the fare cap for regional Victorians will be the same as the metropolitan Melbourne price from 31 March. This will encourage more Victorians to connect with family and friends by reducing the cost of travel between regional Victoria and metropolitan Melbourne. Regional tourism and businesses will benefit as a result, and it will have a huge positive impact on the cost of living for so many. This is a game changer – a massive almost $1.5 billion has been delivered to build 59 new VLocity trains since 2015, and this side of the house has committed to build another 23 brand new VLocity trains, securing hundreds of jobs over the next three years. A whopping 800 services – that is right, 800 services – have been added onto the V/Line network since 2014, and a further 200 weekend services have been promised to make our regions prosper even more. We know on the side of the house that when we promise something we actually deliver it, unlike those opposite.

This is an issue I am hugely passionate about. As the member for Ripon, I know who stands up for regional transport, and that is Labor. Country Victorians have long memories, and we remember when the Liberal–Nationals ripped out our train lines. Under Jeff Kennett the Ararat train line was closed. Under Jeff Kennett the Maryborough train line was closed too. And as an Ararat resident at the time, the member for Eureka distinctly also remembers when the Ararat line was cut. It completely devastated the communities of Ararat and Beaufort and drastically dropped the population of our country towns. Closing the Maryborough line had a profound impact on the towns of Creswick, Clunes, Talbot and Maryborough too, and so many people still talk to me to this day about how devastating closing those train lines was. It left our towns behind, it made them isolated and it impacted jobs, educational opportunities and livelihoods.

But who brought the train lines back? Who brought them back? Labor brought them back, and we have added so many extra services since then, both during the week and on weekends. Now we are making it cheaper to catch the train to where rural and regional Victorians want to go, whether that be down to the footy in Melbourne or to visit family and friends in different towns along the Ararat, Maryborough and Ballarat train lines. Instead of costing a huge $50.80 return from Maryborough to Melbourne, from 31 March it will cost $9.20 max – that is a huge difference – or $4.60 for concession card holders. That is a massive, massive change, and we are making public transport truly affordable and accessible for Victorians by capping these fares. It is fair, it is equitable and it will benefit so many of my constituents. It will mean more people will be able to access vital health and education services, including making TAFE in Ballarat much more accessible to young people along the Ararat and Maryborough lines, and it will mean more money back in the pockets of rural and regional Victorians.

Return fares, as I said before, and I am just going to keep on saying it, are $9.20 for a full fare or $4.60 concession, and an incredible $6.70 for a full fare on weekends and public holidays and $3.35 for concession. The fare cap also applies to all Public Transport Victoria regional buses, town buses and V/Line coaches, and that was something that was raised with me by constituents. They said, ‘This is fantastic for trains, does it apply to buses?’ I can confirm it absolutely does.

Now, I encourage members in this place to take advantage of this and to come up on the V/Line train to visit CresFest next weekend. It is running from Friday 31 March to Sunday 2 April. It is an amazing three-day festival of folk and roots music. It is in its second year, so they are doing incredible work, those organisers, to organise CresFest. Anyone in this chamber, I would like to personally invite you to Creswick for CresFest. You can also come along to the monthly Talbot market on the third Sunday of each month. It was recently voted in the top 10 Australian farmers markets by Australian Traveller magazine, and is the only Victorian market that made the list. So come on up to Talbot market. It is absolutely amazing. Members might also want to catch the V/Line up to visit the Cyril Callister museum in Beaufort, which celebrates the man who invented Vegemite. So we have got the Vegemite museum in Beaufort, come up on the train and check it out. You might also want to jump on the train and come visit the Ararat Gallery, the J Ward museum, the Gum San Chinese Heritage Centre or the monthly market in Ararat. We have so much to see in our region, and now even more visitors will be able to enjoy it with cheaper regional train fares.

Now, as the member for Niddrie recently said, often it takes other governments four years to deliver promises like this, but it has taken us four months. It is absolutely not, like the member for South-West Coast wrongly claimed, too good to be true. It is happening, and we are doing it. They tried to do $2 public transport fares, which was absolutely ridiculous. What we are doing is far better and we are actually getting on and delivering it. We are getting on with easing the cost-of-living pressures and making these fares truly fair.

Many of those opposite will pretend that Labor does not deliver for rural and regional Victoria. This policy is proof that we do. It is only Labor that genuinely delivers for our regions. We deliver new fire stations. We deliver pools, recreation reserves, health services, police stations and job opportunities, and now we are delivering more train services and cheaper fares. Many constituents and rail advocates in Ripon know that I am a gunzel. For those who do not know what a gunzel is, it is someone who is very much a fan of trains and buses. So I am a proud gunzel.

A member: You learn something every day, don’t you?

Martha HAYLETT: Exactly. I am very passionate about public transport and improving access to trains and bus connections across my electorate. This policy truly makes me proud to be Labor. As a government we have nearly doubled annual spending on regional rail services from when we came into office in 2014. In comparison, as I stated before, those opposite wanted to introduce a $2 ticketing policy if they got elected in November. This would not have just hurt regional commuters, it would have hurt the whole transport network. They basically almost forgot to announce a regional fares policy and then asked regional Victorians to pay 20 times more to use a train in their communities than in Melbourne.

Now, you do not have to believe me. Just look at the track record of those opposite. It is cuts, cuts, cuts, closures of trains and train lines, the whole lot. So the former Baillieu–Napthine government slashed $120 million from V/Line, hurting services and passengers. Now this side of the chamber has done the complete opposite, because we care about connecting rural and regional Victorians and making it easier for them to get where they want to go. We are not stopping at regional fares either; we are also ordering 23 new VLocity trains to support rail upgrades on our network. This will secure hundreds of jobs over the next three years across the supply chain, including jobs in Ballarat. The member for Eureka and the member for Wendouree have previously spoken on this point, but it will mean that the hardworking staff at Alstom workshop in Ballarat will have a pipeline of work. They will have certainty for their workforce, and it will support more than 100 workers in Ballarat, which is huge for our region. We will also deliver extra weekend services on our regional network, including five additional weekend train services on the Ararat line, which will be fantastic. We have already delivered four new additional weekend rail services. It did not take us long. It did not even take four months; it took several weeks. I caught the first extra service from Maryborough to Ballarat on 4 December with Central Goldfields shire mayor Grace La Vella, Cr Chris Meddows-Taylor and Rail Revival Alliance President Noel Laidlaw, who is another gunzel. We were all over the moon about the extra services, and locals are absolutely over the moon as well.

I want to thank the member for Niddrie for his hard work as the Minister for Public Transport to get this done. I know that my constituents in Ripon are extremely grateful to the minister. Thank you to the members for Wendouree, Eureka and Lara for your fantastic contributions today, and I am sure that the hardworking member for Bellarine will make a similarly fantastic contribution. As country MPs we are all working hard to deliver for our communities. It is an honour and a privilege to work alongside them to amplify the voices of rural and regional Victorians.

Just in closing, our communities will never forget what those opposite did to our train services. They completely closed the Ararat line and the Maryborough line. We cannot let them do that again. We will never, ever do that. We are delivering for rural and regional Victorians. Unlike those opposite, we are getting the job done.

Chris CREWTHER (Mornington) (17:42): I rise to speak on the matter of public importance submitted by the Minister for Public Transport on the state government’s public transport regional fare cap policy for regional Victorians. I agree that encouraging the use of public transport and addressing cost-of-living pressures are both essential, and these are often topics of discussion with constituents in my electorate of Mornington. The Minister for Public Transport stated in his speech that every corner of the state will benefit from this policy and that everyone has the right to a seat on V/Line – except in the Mornington electorate and on the Mornington Peninsula, as it helps to even have a rail service to begin with and to have proper services. For example, in my electorate, while volunteers run fantastic historical tourist steam and diesel trains from Moorooduc station in Mount Eliza to Mornington station each Sunday, there are no passenger rail services at all – no services at Mornington station, no services at Tanti Park station, no services at Moorooduc station and a railway line that is wasting away between Baxter station and Moorooduc station, not being used at all.

While the whole Mornington Peninsula is considered by the state government to be metropolitan Melbourne, we only have some limited non-electrified diesel V/Line services operating past Frankston through Baxter down to Stony Point. For people in my electorate it is not viable to use the local V/Line service, as that means, say, going to Baxter, hopping on a train, going two stations to get to Frankston and then having to hop off that train to get on an electrified Metro train. So most people instead try to drive and travel sometimes long distances to get a park at, say, Frankston, Kananook, Seaford or Carrum station; or try to get on unreliable bus services, such as the 784 and 788 buses, to get to a station; or use rideshare services just to travel to the closest train station; or just give up and drive all the way to the city and elsewhere without even going on a train, because it is just too hard.

Bus frequencies are also quite out of sync with timetables. How can the state government classify us as metropolitan Melbourne – all the way down to Sorrento, I might add – but not give us proper passenger rail like in metro Melbourne or even compared to regional areas like Geelong, which is the same distance from the city. Where is the equality of opportunity for people on the Mornington Peninsula? And under state Labor’s policy, where are the savings to start with for the Mornington Peninsula residents to access our limited Stony Point V/Line services operating under zone 2 metro, as this does nothing for them. They will still pay $9.20 per day, whereas under an elected Liberal government they would have paid $7.20 less per day.

At the same time the state government punish us by making Mornington Peninsula business owners pay higher payroll tax at the metro level, as compared to, say, the discounted Geelong rate. And under the federal Labor government currently local people and businesses on the Mornington Peninsula, which is classed by the state government as metropolitan, pay regional Australia Post costs. So we are getting cost increases in some areas –

A member: Madness!

Chris CREWTHER: by being classed as regional while being punished by being classed as metropolitan at the same time. It is madness, as you mention. It is really ridiculous. It is an issue that has been going on for quite a while for me and for others on the peninsula. I mention those costs but that is not to mention that the Labor government have also burdened Victorians with more than 40 new or increased taxes since coming to government in November 2014. We on the peninsula are paying for the state government to put in services elsewhere, including for their $200 billion-plus Suburban Rail Loop white elephant.

The Committee for Greater Frankston put together a comparison of the Geelong–Bellarine region versus the Frankston and Mornington Peninsula region. Geelong and that region has a population of about 270,000 versus 310,000 on the peninsula. We have similar economic outputs. But infrastructure funding was $4.9 billion versus $2.9 billion over the last 10 years, and planned infrastructure spend as a comparison between the two is $6.2 billion in the Geelong region versus just $0.7 billion on the peninsula. There is a discrepancy of $22,823 per person spent right across the bay versus $2317 per person on the peninsula, so there is about 10 times less being spent per person on the peninsula. So it is clear that the government is not looking at the whole state to invest in public transport infrastructure, education infrastructure, like Mount Eliza Secondary College, or other infrastructure according to need. In many cases they are doing it according to the party of an MP or the marginality of a seat.

One solution if they want to do something is the electrification and duplication of the Frankston rail line to Baxter. This would deliver better public transport solutions and options for people in the Mornington electorate and the broader peninsula as well as ease traffic congestion. This is something I have been passionate about delivering for my community, securing $3 million of federal Liberal government funding in 2016 for a business case, which the state government has only spent half of to produce a preliminary business case with little to no consultation. In 2018 I secured $225 million of funding from the then federal Liberal government towards building this project. This funding is still sitting on the table ready for the state government to use, but it is at real risk of now being taken away by the Albanese government and potentially shifted across to the Suburban Rail Loop or elsewhere. That is despite both the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the now member for Dunkley Peta Murphy going on video before the 2019 election to say that an elected Labor government would not only deliver this project but deliver it more quickly than the federal Liberals would in consultation with the state government, and they were even handing out DLs saying the same at stations. But since they were actually elected to federal government in 2022 they have gone silent.

Only the state Labor government can enable this project to go ahead, as they own and manage the rail line. State Labor are the only ones who have never committed, with past commitments from the federal Liberals, federal Labor and the state Liberals. Indeed the state Liberals committed to building this $971 million total project if elected and to building the Mornington to Hastings bus service, which I know that the member for Hastings surely would also be a strong advocate of. But Labor did not match either of those commitments before the election, and unfortunately they were elected.

I call again on the state Labor government to commit to building both of these projects, which would deliver, in the rail service, the electrification and duplication of Frankston to Baxter, meaning one train from Baxter or Langwarrin to the city; new and upgraded Frankston East, Langwarrin and Baxter stations; less parking issues up the line; less cars on roads and closer train commutes for residents across the Mornington Peninsula – or if they do not want to build it, how about looking instead at, say, bimodal trains with passing loops, which could mean one train from Stony Point to Melbourne? Just do something, and do not throw away $225 million of funding.

Let us look more broadly as well. While we have $200 billion-plus to be spent on the Suburban Rail Loop, we have no passenger rail services not just in my electorate but to places like Koo Wee Rup; Horsham, where I grew up, which only has an occasional Overland come through; or Mildura, the largest population centre in the whole of Australia with no passenger rail service.

On that topic, I was formerly CEO of Mildura Development Corporation and spokesperson for NorthWest Rail Alliance, and I advocated with others – such as Noel Laidlaw, as mentioned by the member for Ripon; Christian Mitchell, who is based in Frankston South and was the president; and many others – from 2013 to 2015 for funding from state and federal governments for the Murray Basin rail project. Over $440 million was given through the state Liberal government, then the federal Liberal government and the subsequent state Labor government. It was bipartisan. But it has been stuffed up. The state Labor government have totally mismanaged this project, with mass cost blowouts and less built than was intended. It has meant the scrapping of the Manangatang and Sea Lake standardisation components, and it has also meant freight now actually taking longer, rather than less time. If built properly this would have really boosted our economy, particularly with agricultural and mineral sands movement and true competition between our ports.

Let us look more broadly as well and look at the V/Line annual reports. Cost per trip was $40.57 in 2013–14 versus $111.47 in 2021–22. What has happened? Basically, Labor cannot manage money. As pointed out in the Age article by Patrick Hatch, ‘V/Line to take you anywhere for $9.20. But will it get you a seat?’ – on this point, as noted, V/Line services are already overcrowded, and on hot days many are cancelled as the ageing infrastructure cannot cope. Please invest in the services needed.

Alison MARCHANT (Bellarine) (17:52): It is a great pleasure to rise and speak on this matter of public importance, noting this tremendous policy of the Andrews Labor government, our public transport regional fare cap policy for regional Victorians. In simple terms this is about fairness. This is a policy that will see fairness being delivered across the state and fairness for regional Victorians. But when you look a little bit closer at this policy, it is much more than that. I know as a regional MP this policy goes straight to the heart of the Bellarine and our regions, and it has been wholeheartedly welcomed in the Bellarine since it was announced last year. Consumers, users of the rail and regional Victorians are at the centre of this policy, and they will soon be paying the same price as their metro Melbourne neighbours.

Right now a daily full fare from Geelong to Melbourne costs up to $27.60, and for a family such as my own, with two adults and two children, when we travelled late last year it cost us nearly $83 to come to Melbourne. The kids do love tapping on and jumping on the train, but when you compare this to Melbourne prices it just does not seem fair at all. So this is about fairness and equity. When we announced this last year the Labor government recognised that regional people needed a better deal, and that is what we will be delivering. Fairness is important, but it is also about doing something meaningful for that and it is about addressing the cost of living. These fairer regional fares are going to help a lot of regional Victorians with cost-of-living pressures. I know we all feel the pain as we fill up our cars with petrol at the moment and families are watching every dollar that goes out of that household budget, so it is very important.

But if you are a regular traveller at the moment on the V/Line service, for example from Geelong to Melbourne, you are also racking up a pretty substantial bill, and I would like to share a little bit of an example of this from a Bellarine constituent who contacted me. The Bellarine constituent was so excited about this policy that she emailed me two days after the election. The election was on the Saturday. By Monday she was emailing me. She wanted to know more about the policy but also know when it was going to start. Stephanie explained that in her family her husband is a critical care nurse. He works as an associate nurse unit manager on a cardio ward in Melbourne, and she explained that he is really dedicated to his profession. He loves his job and is a very senior nurse, and he worked tirelessly during the pandemic. The only problem that they had really was the cost of his train travel back and forth to Melbourne. Their household was spending over $6000 a year on V/Line tickets. Stephanie explained that having this fare capped was probably the biggest change that they will see to their household in terms of cost of living, and she was very eager to know when that would be rolled out. Well, we did not waste a minute. We actually rolled this out and we got on with it fairly quickly, and we have turned this around in four months. We have delivered what we said we would deliver, and Stephanie will be counting down the days until 31 March. I am really pleased for families like Stephanie’s who are going to just have that easing of pressure on the household budget.

Of course, being a regional MP, I believe that regional Victoria is the best place to live, work and raise a family – and visit. It is no wonder that other people are also flocking to rural and regional Victoria. The secret is out: the Bellarine is a wonderful place to live. We have seen some massive growth across the Bellarine, and families are moving there for the lifestyle that it offers. Working arrangements have changed as well, though. Many are now able to work from home, and they have that flexibility if they would like to live in the regions. When I am out and about, if I am doorknocking, at street stalls or talking to constituents, I meet so many people who have moved from Melbourne probably in the last two years, and they say that they wish they had moved earlier and that they are loving it. Some do mention that they still travel to Melbourne, maybe for work, or as they have left family and friends back in Melbourne, they often travel back to catch up with them. This is the beauty of this policy: although you may use it for work purposes, I know that this policy and these fair regional fares will encourage more Victorians to connect with families and friends across the state – and how wonderful is that.

By reducing the cost of travel between metro and regional Victoria, people will be more inclined to take the train to visit loved ones, catch up with friends or gather for special occasions. I just want to point out here too that it is important to note that the seniors Myki will continue to give free weekend travel in any two consecutive zones and on regional town buses, so really there is no excuse to not go and see the grandkids anymore or visit the regions. As I have indicated and said before, I believe I have one of the most beautiful electorates in the state – beaches, rolling agricultural hills, wineries, historic townships and many tourism activities – so what an incentive this is. I encourage people, especially metro Victorians, to come and see our regions. Come and visit us. Do that by jumping on a train. Come and explore Geelong, and you can travel out to the wonderful Bellarine. I know that this is only going to grow our regional tourism. It will support our regional businesses, which are really going to see the flow-on effects and benefits of this cheaper travel. Easter is around the corner, and it is a great time to just come and visit us in regional Victoria. Also, if you do need a little bit of help, I know that the V/Line stations and call centre staff will be able to assist travellers with accessibility needs to reach their destination. I know they too are excited about this; they want everyone to have the best experience.

Our record does show that we get on with things that matter here in Victoria. We are a government that has been and is transforming our public transport right now. We know that regional Victoria is booming – record unemployment, strong agriculture, strong tourism, and just around the corner are the magnificent Commonwealth Games. This investment has been incredible. Since 2015 we have seen an investment of nearly $1.5 billion to build 59 VLocity trains, and guess what? It is about jobs. It is about good-quality jobs. It is about creating career pathways and secure jobs in our regions.

As much as the prices are now becoming fairer, and that is welcome, people do say that they want better services and more trains more often. Well, that is exactly what we are committing to do – 23 new VLocity trains, securing hundreds of jobs also over the next three years. As we heard from other members’ contributions, we have also provided an extra 800 services since 2014 to the V/Line network, and a further 200 weekend regional services have been committed. This is actually putting into action our core values of supporting people into employment in this state. It is very simple: Labor believes trains made for Victorians should be made by Victorians. These extra trains will run from 2024, and as new trains roll off that production line, I cannot wait to see that.

Just to highlight the difference here, though, with the alternative proposals that were proposed in the election, regional Victorians would have had to face cuts in services to keep this operational. The fact is that if the opposition had formed government in November with their $2 ticketing policy, it would have hurt not only regional commuters but the whole transport network.

We do things that matter for everyday Victorians. I am so proud of this investment. It will help people across the Bellarine electorate and across the state in regional Victoria. It is going to help with the cost of living. This is an investment into our future, it is investment into people and it is fair. It is a fair deal. That is what Labor governments do – we create fairer societies. I am excited about this regional capped fare. Excuse the pun, but this is going to keep Victorians on track for a better deal.

Brad ROWSWELL (Sandringham) (18:01): In the very short time remaining in this matter of public importance debate I also rise to make a brief contribution to the matter before the chamber. Firstly, I commend the contributions of my colleagues the member for Polwarth, the member for Eildon, the member for South-West Coast and the member for Mornington. In the very short time that is available to me I just want to refer in particular to item 1 of the matter of public importance today and the fact that the independent Parliamentary Budget Office shows that Labor’s fare promise has been underfunded by $1.1 billion. That is of deep concern to me, of deep concern to the opposition and of deep concern to the Victorian people. If they are going to pay for it, they have got to tell us how.