Wednesday, 16 October 2024

Ministers statements: Suburban Rail Loop

Danny PEARSON (Essendon – Minister for Transport Infrastructure, Minister for the Suburban Rail Loop, Assistant Treasurer, Minister for WorkSafe and the TAC) (14:16): I rise to update the house on the Allan Labor government’s commitment to the Suburban Rail Loop. This fantastic project will radically change how we move, how we work, how we study and the communities we live in. By 2050 Melbourne will be the size of London: 9 million people. Our public transport system will need to manage almost 12 million extra daily trips. We will need thousands more homes in the right places – near schools, hospitals and universities. This will not be possible without the Suburban Rail Loop, and those opposite want to scrap it.

What the member for Caulfield needs to realise is that you cannot just switch on public transport the way you switch on the record button on your phone. You just need to build it. On this side of the house we are putting in the work today, building for our future. Thanks to the SRL, a student travelling from Traralgon to Box Hill TAFE will save 26 minutes on their commute. A nurse travelling from Frankston to Box Hill Hospital will save an hour on their commute. The first stage of SRL alone will enable 70,000 new homes, which will mean our kids and our grandkids have a better chance of living near their families, their schools and their jobs.

Those opposite put all this at risk. They always look for the easy way out. They had their four wasted, miserable years in office when they did not deliver a single major project. It is clear that those opposite are more focused on themselves, their court case and their secret recordings –

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: The member for Malvern is warned. I had said I was not going to warn people, so you are lucky.

James Newbury: On a point of order, Speaker, I refer you to page 160 of Rulings from the Chair and Speaker Brooks’s rulings that it is entirely inappropriate for a minister to use ministers statements simply as an opportunity to attack the opposition.

The SPEAKER: I ask the minister to come back to his ministers statement without attacking the opposition.

Danny PEARSON: We are the only game in town when it comes to delivering major transport infrastructure, and we are getting on and delivering. Those opposite are more focused on themselves. They do not trust themselves, and Victorians simply should not trust them when it comes to delivering transport infrastructure.