Wednesday, 7 February 2024

Transport infrastructure

Josh BULL (Sunbury) (16:16): I am delighted to be back, and isn’t it terrific to be back in the house as part of an Allan Labor government spending each and every day investing in local communities. I do, however, this afternoon grieve for those opposite and the fake way that they go about their business compared to the very real, very tangible way that this government go about ours. What we know and understand is this government has a strong, bold, ambitious plan for transport right across this state – investments in road, investments in rail, investments in all of those services that we know, Speaker, and you know mean such a difference to local communities.

We are of course a government that gets on and delivers the real – not fake – projects that people know and rely on within local communities. Whether you live in the city, whether you are from the suburbs or whether you are from the regions or right across country Victoria, we know and understand that having access to your job and having access to education facilities is important, and making sure that you have got the opportunity and the option to move around our state in the most effective and most efficient way is indeed something that we, the entire team, are focused on.

There is a very long list, and I know members have referenced this list before. I indeed have. But with the Metro Tunnel – those five new stations, the direct connection of the Cranbourne–Pakenham line through to my home town, Sunbury, but right down the Sunbury line and of course access to all of those precincts within the CBD, a terrific project that I think of course people will benefit from – we know the opportunity to move thousands more people through the CBD but of course also to our growing suburbs is exactly what is needed. The Metro Tunnel, like the city loop, is an incredibly important project, a real project delivered by this Allan Labor government. There is the West Gate Tunnel, the North East Link, the removal of 110 dangerous and congested level crossings by 2030 and the Suburban Rail Loop, just to name a few.

We are a team that put forward a clear alternative to Victorians at the election around a year ago. We ‍– in stark contrast to those opposite, who promised to cancel major transport projects – gave Victorians, as we have done on other opportunities, a clear plan. We articulated that plan and of course took it to the Victorian community and were again comprehensively elected – those 110 dangerous and congested level crossings, 74 gone for good, the preparation for the Metro Tunnel to open in 2025 and also making the Cranbourne, Frankston, Lilydale, Pakenham, Sunbury and Werribee lines boom gate free.

A member interjected.

Josh BULL: Absolutely. Absolutely, team. This of course supports the increase in train trips, fast-tracking nine level crossing removals along the Melton line. I can see the very hardworking member for Melton over there. I love getting out to his community and seeing how he gets things done. He is a very good operator, Speaker, as you know. And what we know and understand is the community in Melton are very excited to see their level crossings go, and we of course will back him in each and every day. He gets things done. Whether it is delivery of his hospital, whether it is the upgrade to the many schools that he has got, he is getting on and getting it done.

We know that not just the Melton line but the Werribee line, the Frankston line and indeed the Sunbury line, which I have already referenced, are incredibly important to helping get families home faster, helping students get to school and helping people get to work.

Those on the other side do not really know where they stand when it comes to level crossings. They did not really get rid of many at all in their humble four years in office, and they spend a lot of time talking about them. They are in the wrong location, they are the wrong solution, they are the wrong design, they are undercosted, they are overcosted – it is just astonishing, and it is not astonishing that there was a very measly, sluggish sort of effort when it came to getting rid of level crossings from those on the other side. This show, our show, is a vastly different group. Victorians know: 74 gone, 110 by 2030, making sure that we are delivering, making communities safer –

Tim Richardson: Are there any left?

Josh BULL: Indeed, member for Mordialloc, I am not sure there are going to be many left in your part of town.

The SPEAKER: Through the Chair, member for Sunbury.

Josh BULL: Of course, Speaker; I was waiting for that. What we know is that we are a hardworking outfit that listens to local communities and gets on and gets things done to make sure that we are providing a safer, less congested and better local community.

We know that there is plenty more work to be done. I mentioned the Metro Tunnel. The tunnel is due to open early 2025 – not a mythical project, not printing train tickets to platform 9¾ in Harry Potter where you push the trolley through the wall, but a real project, put on the shelf by those opposite, making sure that we are connecting those key train lines to move more and more people in our state, which grows each and every day. We are delivering that key, central and critical project.

We are also delivering the $4.5 billion Regional Rail Revival. That is upgrading every Victorian regional passenger line. I did hear today reference to the fare cap, another terrific initiative by this government. But this Regional Rail Revival includes delivering new services and creating over 3000 jobs, including removing the first level crossings in regional Victoria at South Geelong and the Surf Coast Highway and major upgrades to Waurn Ponds, Marshall and South Geelong stations. Indeed, there is a lot of work to be done. There is a very, very, very long list – 135 additional weekly services on the Ballarat line, over 800 additional regional services statewide. We know that passengers are already benefiting from more than 316 kilometres of new and upgraded track across regional Victoria, more than 200 new and extended services, new stations, 14 completed station upgrades, new stabling facilities and much, much more. This forms a vast majority of the work that this government will continue to do each and every day.

There are of course some key milestones that have been reached with the Suburban Rail Loop. Those opposite, again, spend quite a bit of time procrastinating about the Suburban Rail Loop, whether they are for it or whether they are against it. What I think is most important is that we have taken this project to not one but two elections, and the Victorian community have overwhelmingly supported the project. Yet again those opposite are still trying to make up their minds, as opposed to the people of Victoria, who have made up their minds twice on this project. When it comes to this investment we have heard there are more than a thousand people working on this project. There will be 4000 by 2026, 8000 across its peak – real jobs supporting real people, a real project that is well and truly on the road to delivery. By 2026, major works contracts will have been signed and we will have our very fabulous tunnel boring machines in the ground digging.

This will make a massive difference to people right across the state – to nursing students, to TAFE students, to physical therapists working at our hospitals. It will take more than 600,000 – I need to check that figure – daily car trips off our roads, of course slashing congestion. The economic benefits of that are incredibly important as well, because we know and understand that if we have people moving around our state in a more efficient, more effective, quicker way, that provides great economic benefits to the people of Victoria.

So when we add all of this up – this sustained and strong investment from this government – we know and understand that the importance of continued investment, of listening to local communities, of upgrading small infrastructure projects within communities but also delivering the big key pieces of infrastructure that I have mentioned this afternoon make for a state that assists every single Victorian to get to where they need to go as quickly as possible. So you have opportunity. Maybe it is free TAFE that you are interested in. Maybe it is a new skill. Maybe it is a new job that you have just picked up. Perhaps you want to go to sport on the weekend. There are so many opportunities that are unlocked by providing these key transport projects, and we know and understand that this is incredibly important work.

Unfortunately when we compare and contrast that to much of the murmurings and discussion that come from those opposite, we just cannot – not that we spend a whole heap of time thinking about it ‍– understand many, if any, of the policy positions that they take. That is why Victorians see through the team that is over the other side of the chamber, and that is why, successfully, we have taken these projects to election and continue to be voted into office. What we know, though, is that that is indeed a great privilege – a profound opportunity to sit on the Treasury benches and to govern in this state. We do not for one second take that for granted. We do not for one second assume that re-election is just a matter of course. No, it is not. It is about working with local communities each and every day. It is about listening and continuing to evolve as a government as we bring legislation, projects, programs and initiatives into this house so that our state becomes better and fairer and people have the opportunity to move around their local community, people have the opportunity to come in and out of the CBD, people have the opportunity to travel down to Pakenham, for example. There is plenty to do down there, and there are some level crossings that are also going as well.

Danny O’Brien interjected.

Josh BULL: I will take up the interjection from the fine member. He seems to always be in the house when I am in here. We know and understand that major transport projects cause disruptions. We work closely with our departments and government agencies to manage those processes, because in the end the net benefit is all the benefits that I spoke about earlier: benefits to be safer, benefits around less congestion, benefits that carry on not just for months and years but for decades. We know that safety of course is paramount to our community. But even in an economic sense, having these projects in place, we are making sure that we continue to invest, making our community know and understand that this team – this Allan Labor government – is a hardworking, effective, dynamic and incredibly committed team. Victorians know and understand that these are the projects that we took to the election and these are the projects that we will deliver.

The transport portfolio of course forms a significant component of what we do in our core business of government, but whether it is free TAFE, whether it is the opportunity to study nursing for free or whether it is upgrades to local schools, to kinders, to community facilities or to local government facilities, this is all about ensuring that we give every single Victorian the opportunity to be their best and to grow and to thrive and of course to develop, and that is incredibly, incredibly important.

When we come into this place – and it is fair to say I think we all miss coming in here when we are on our break – what we do see from those opposite is unfortunately a team that is not united, a team that does not really know where they are at on most big policy issues. And unfortunately, rather than putting forward a positive plan that the people of Victoria may one day vote for, they spend more time trying to –

Darren Cheeseman interjected.

Josh BULL: A fake plan indeed, member for South Barwon. This of course is a real government with real plans, with plans that are both bold and visionary but also achievable and practical, plans that we know address the challenges. And there are challenges within local communities. That is indeed the life that we know comes with being in government, but we never forget that that opportunity to be in government is an extraordinary privilege and a great responsibility. I know, looking at these outstanding members on this side of the house, just how hard they work for their local communities, just how much they get done. Each and every day we will continue to invest in Victoria, because that is the show that we are.