Wednesday, 29 May 2024

Motions

Suburban Rail Loop

Evan MULHOLLAND (Northern Metropolitan) (14:13): I move:

That this house notes that:

(1) fresh doubts surround the future of the most expensive transport infrastructure project in Victoria’s history following confirmation the federal budget contains no additional funding for the Suburban Rail Loop (SRL) East;

(2) in 2022, the Victorian Labor government stated that the $34.5 billion SRL East would be funded through three equal $11.5 billion contributions from the Victorian state government, the federal government and new taxes via ‘value capture’ initiatives;

(3) to date, the federal Labor government has committed just $2.2 billion towards the project, with federal minister for infrastructure Catherine King stating that no further money will be provided until the project has been assessed by Infrastructure Australia;

(4) with federal Labor now walking away from the project, the Allan Labor government faces a $20 billion funding shortfall for the SRL East as it boasts of preparing to sign all main works contracts by 2026;

(5) the independent Parliamentary Budget Office has costed stages 1 and 2 of the project at $216 billion;

(6) this wasteful spend means Victorians living in growth areas and regional Victoria will miss out on essential infrastructure projects;

(7) with a $20 billion funding shortfall, Premier Jacinta Allan must explain what new taxes will be raised and what other desperately needed infrastructure projects across Victoria will be cancelled to pay for the SRL East;

and calls on the Allan Labor government to pause the SRL East and not enter into any further contracts.

It is a privilege to speak on this motion. It is a really important motion, I think, on the future of Victoria and the legacy that will be left by this government in regard to the Suburban Rail Loop. You cannot really go through a morning without opening up the newspaper to see more stories about the failures of this dogged project that this government has embarked upon – mostly behind closed doors – whether it be federal Minister Catherine King pouring cold water on the project or holding back secret reports. We think, given the scandals with this program, that it is important to bring this motion forward.

It is the most expensive transport infrastructure project in Victorian history. The federal budget contains no – none, zero – additional funding for the Suburban Rail Loop East. In 2022 the Victorian Labor government stated that $34.5 billion for the SRL East would be funded through three equal $11.5 billion contributions from the Victorian state government, the federal government and new taxes, meaning value capture initiatives. The federal government has committed just $2.2 billion towards the project, with federal minister for infrastructure Catherine King stating that no further money will be provided until the project is assessed by Infrastructure Australia. So federal Labor is basically walking away from the project. The Allan government faces a $20 billion funding shortfall for the SRL East as it boasts that it is preparing to sign all main contracts by September 2026. With more contracts to come in September, it is important to bring forward this motion to hold this tired, decade-old government to account.

The independent Parliamentary Budget Office has costed stages 1 and 2 of the project at $216 billion. This wasteful spend means that Victorians living in growth areas and in regional Victoria will miss out on essential infrastructure projects – certainly in my electorate I know that to be true. With a $20 billion funding shortfall, Premier Jacinta Allan must explain what new taxes will be raised and what other desperately needed infrastructure projects across Victoria will be cancelled to pay for the SRL East. Of course we call on the Labor government to pause the SRL and not enter into any further contracts.

I know there are some members of cabinet and their party room that are quite keen to pause this project – maybe put it off into the future – and get going on other projects that are more important to Victorians. We join those calls saying the government should pause this project. The Suburban Rail Loop is the most expensive but least scrutinised project in Victorian history. The Parliamentary Budget Office has costed the first two stages of the project alone at $125 billion, 2½ times what the Premier promised for the whole thing, and $216 billion including operating costs – $216 billion. Already a $6.9 billion cost blowout is expected, as indicated by the Auditor-General’s Major Projects Performance Reporting 2023 report, but Labor has hidden that in the budget.

It was extraordinary to see the performances of the Premier and the minister at the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee. Costs have gone up about 20 per cent across the country and in Victoria. Apparently the Suburban Rail Loop is going to be quarantined. I know they do not like talking about quarantine, but it is going to be quarantined from any cost blowouts across the state and across the country. This must be an incredible project that it could somehow live in a bubble – in a tunnel. There is a tunnel around inflationary cost blowouts, a lot of them caused by the effect of their mismanaged Big Build. It is just absurd that this government is still pursuing this project and still straight-up lying to the Victorian people that this project will somehow be quarantined from cost blowouts. It is absolutely absurd.

The project has not been assessed by either Infrastructure Australia or Infrastructure Victoria – that body that Daniel Andrews specifically set up to ‘take the politics out of infrastructure’. You know that one they set up, on the other side of the house, that was going to take the politics out of infrastructure? It was going to plan based on need, not based on something that was cooked up in a far-flung office at PwC. No, Infrastructure Victoria did not do that. The PTV, Public Transport Victoria, provides development plans on what is needed in the future based on experts – not PwC consultants, but experts. Were any of those projects taken up? Was the Western Rail Plan taken up? Was the northern loop line taken up? It would have connected the Upfield line and the Craigieburn line and electrified the line to Wallan. No, because Labor is focused on this absolute vanity project that is going to suck up every single taxpayer dollar and infrastructure project not just for this generation but for the one after that and the one after that. It is an absurd project, and what it is doing is robbing the next generation of getting the infrastructure that they deserve.

It is like they have not ever visited Melton. It is like they have not ever visited Wyndham Vale. It is like they have not ever visited Wallan and they have not ever visited Clyde, because they do not care about people living in growth areas or living in regional Victoria that are desperate for their infrastructure. Our fellow Victorians in regional Victoria cannot even drive from A to B without hitting dangerous potholes, yet this government wants to embark on a vanity project called the Suburban Rail Loop East, which has already blown out its costs. We are told that it is going to be quarantined from any sort of cost blowouts that are happening everywhere else, even though there is $40 billion of cost blowouts on infrastructure projects that Jacinta Allan is responsible for. She has been at the table as the minister for everything that has gone wrong, from the Commonwealth Games – $600 million of money down the toilet – to $40 billion of infrastructure blowouts, yet we are meant to believe that the Suburban Rail Loop will somehow be quarantined from all these blowouts. It is ridiculous. Then you have got this value capture, which is an exercise in property speculation that relies on 40-storey towers in Box Hill, 25-storey towers around Monash and Glen Waverley, 20-storey towers in Clayton and 18-storey towers in Cheltenham. We still have no detail from the minister on the value-capture mechanism.

I know Mr Welch has been visiting many businesses and locals concerned about their shrinking open space, concerned about the amount of space all these different ventilation stacks and all sorts of things are taking up, all for an absolute vanity project of the former Premier. But we have got to remember Jacinta Allan was Minister for the Suburban Rail Loop; she is completely tied to every decision Daniel Andrews made. We heard the backgrounding comments from Labor ministers and MPs over the weekend that they cooked up too much at the election and of course some promises were going to have to be broken. If there is any that should be broken, it is this one. But they are continuing on with the former Premier’s vanity project, written up in some far-flung office at PwC. Again, Minister Pearson said the government has not identified a value capture mechanism and has not decided who will pay. That should worry all Victorians and has not forecast how much they aim to raise in each precinct.

The federal government has committed no further funding until there is an independent process. Now is not the time to lock Victorians into a multibillion-dollar contract and spend a generation’s worth of infrastructure funding. The northern and western sections are not actually costed, are not planned and have not been committed to, and they would not even be built until around 2053. I know the Minister for Planning came out to Broadmeadows and was asked specific questions about the future Broadmeadows station – would not have a clue. I do not reckon the Premier has got a clue. I do not reckon the secretary and the department have got a clue – because it is all thought up, put on the back of a coaster in a PwC office, all for an exercise in vanity. The SRL is not supported by any transport expert, and according to the Auditor-General it will only return 51 cents of community benefit for every dollar it costs, before blowouts and using the SRL authority’s very optimistic figures.

Labor cannot manage money, they cannot manage projects and it is clear Victorians are paying the price. Victorians are furious, because you have got ministers contradicting each other on the airport rail, you have got the airport rail being put off, but not the SRL. You have got four-year-old pre-prep being put off, but not the SRL. You have got mental health locals being put off, like the one that was promised in Craigieburn in my electorate, being put off, but not the SRL. Why is that? It is because this government cannot manage money. It wastes taxpayer money; it mismanages taxpayer money. This is a project dreamt up by Daniel Andrews and Jacinta Allan. She was the minister. It has already faced blowouts. She is responsible for $40 billion of infrastructure blowouts. She was the minister for the Commonwealth Games – $600 million down the toilet.

This is a vanity project. The SRL is the most secretive and unscrutinised project in Victorian history. A bit of a history lesson for those opposite: it was originally named Operation Halo. Board members of the government agency responsible for delivery knew nothing about it until it was announced. Senior public servants enlisted to give advice were legally gagged from sharing it with their bosses. Labor MPs and ministers were kept in the dark, except for a gang of five: Tim Pallas, James Merlino, Gavin Jennings, Daniel Andrews and of course Jacinta Allan. Thirty private consultants worked on the project in secret at the PwC offices in Melbourne – they have got a great reputation recently, haven’t they – and they were required to sign a non-disclosure agreement barring them from discussing their work with anyone from outside the project team, including their bosses. No documents were allowed to leave the locked rooms.

On the day it was announced it had not been scrutinised by the Department of Transport and Planning. It had never been reviewed by the independent infrastructure body Infrastructure Victoria, which they themselves set up to manage against these kind of brain farts. It was not on any earlier planning documents, like the PTV development plans that experts contribute to that map a future for growth based on need around Victoria – yet this government would rather outsource all that to tax evasion central over there. They would rather outsource to tax evasion central their policy development process. It still has not been costed by Infrastructure Victoria – no cost–benefit analysis by Infrastructure Australia – and this government has the gall to go begging cap in hand to the Commonwealth and get Labor to commit $2 billion to the project. That $2 billion is actually not certain. They think it is, but it is actually not certain, and I would be concerned about that over $2 billion as well.

Any federal minister – and I know; I have heard them – that goes around town in Victoria or around Australia cannot believe the government is proceeding with the SRL. They cannot believe it. They think it is stupid. So do we – we agree with them. Their federal team are not happy about it. I tell you what, the Victorian people, particularly those in the western suburbs and north-eastern suburbs, cannot believe that a good project like the airport rail link has been put off into the never-never but they are still continuing with the SRL. They cannot believe it. It beggars belief – it absolutely beggars belief – that this government would continue with a project that they came up with down at tax evasion city instead of a project like the airport rail, which has been longed for for decades by Victorians.

This government went to not one but two elections stating that only Labor will electrify the train lines to Melton and Wyndham Vale – only Labor will do that. So you had two elections, 2018 and 2022, promising this project. It does not happen. It has not happened. I tell you what, we were down in south-west Melbourne in Werribee a few weeks ago for shadow cabinet with about 100 members of the community, every single one of them furious that they are being ignored – absolutely. It is the same in my electorate in the north as well. You have got a situation where the Craigieburn line, despite having more users – there are more users on the Craigieburn line – has half the amount of frequency as the Frankston line. Ridiculous. Labor views these seats as seats for life, as absolute seats for life. I am here to tell you they are not. We are coming after them and tying this government to its absurd decision to commit Victoria to an outrageous project, to commit Victoria to a project that has not had a business case, that does not have a plan, that has no cost–benefit analysis.

If you want to defend the Suburban Rail Loop, come in, spinner, because we will not have it. We will be tying you to this. You have delayed the airport rail. You have delayed the Western Rail Plan. You are not committing to any electrification in growth areas that desperately need electrification, that desperately need rail services. You are saying no to that, but you are going to connect a rail line between two rail lines that already have established public transport links. That is what they want to do – connect two rail lines with existing public transport links with frequency that is much better than in the outer west and the outer north. That is what they want to do. They want to look after people – everyone in the east. Even people in the east now, from what I am hearing, are very much not happy with the Suburban Rail Loop. It is the inequity of this government. This government always talks about how equality is not negotiable; where is the equality in punching billions of dollars into the eastern suburbs and not into the western suburbs or the northern suburbs?

Even if you supported this project, if Labor gave a damn about the punters in the western suburbs and the lack of services they are provided every day, they would have started it over in Werribee and then worked their way around. But no – this was all a political exercise. No expert advice, no cost–benefit analysis – it was a political exercise dreamt up at tax evasion city, all for the former Premier’s ego. And the current Premier was there, the current Premier was in the locked room, part of the gang of five that made all the decisions. This is a project that has already blown out. It is actually not worth the paper it is written on. This government wants to continue going on with this project, it wants to continue signing contracts, even though you have got an absolute litany of experts saying that it is a money sink and saying you have got a credit rating warning against the government’s debt position. It does not know where the funding is coming from. Its federal Labor colleagues will not even agree with them and tip in money – no, they will not.

They have chucked, what, $3.74 billion into the North East Link? The thing they have to answer as well is: would their federal colleagues have contributed that $3.7 billion to the North East Link if Jacinta Allan had not blown out that budget by $10 billion? No, because it would not have been required. The previous Liberal government had already contributed to that project, then Jacinta Allan and Danny Pearson front up and reveal a $10 billion blowout and then the feds have to come save the day. They would not be contributing to that project were it not for Jacinta Allan’s blowouts. We have already seen a blowout on this project. We have seen over $40 billion of blowouts across all her infrastructure projects – that is Jacinta Allan’s legacy. There is no business case. As I said, 51 cents of community benefit for every dollar spent – $216 billion.

The federal Treasurer said that state governments must make tough decisions to prevent inflation rising, but they would rather see interest rates go up in growth areas than have to abandon a crazy project like the Suburban Rail Loop. You are starving the rest of the state of the infrastructure that they deserve. That is why you have delayed airport rail. That is why the Deputy Premier is running around trying to defend this government for the fact that we do not have an airport rail loop, for the fact that we do not have a western rail plan. You promised at two separate elections a western rail plan. It has never happened. The government needs to pause this absurd project.

Sonja TERPSTRA (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (14:33): Maybe we can all just calm down a little bit in here now; it was a bit angry over there, talking about Suburban Rail Loop. But I am very pleased to rise to talk on this motion, because even though it is a motion that seeks to condemn the project, I know – and I know this only too well – that there were two elections that Victorians got to vote on this project and they have done it, twice. So I think that the Victorian public have given us a mandate to actually proceed with this project, and it is a fantastic project.

I was listening to Mr Mulholland, and of course I have had an opportunity to look at the basis of the motion. It really is astounding, and it just seems that those opposite really do not believe in public transport, because we know they do not believe in public anything. They want everything to be private, just to make sure that their rich mates actually make lots of money at the expense of Victorians. You only have to look at energy policy in that respect – they have got these rich multinational corporations ripping millions and millions of dollars out of Victoria and it all goes overseas. But at least our government, what we do is, when we commit to a project we are going to make sure we get on and deliver it. This project, Suburban Rail Loop, and the first part of it, the east, is actually in my electorate, the electorate of the North-Eastern Metropolitan Region. It is fantastic.

I am going to directly address some of the, I guess, misinformation or disinformation or however you want to describe it that Mr Mulholland went to in his contribution, because it really is –

Evan Mulholland: Please.

Sonja TERPSTRA: Do not worry. A good thing is that no-one is listening to you, and that is why you are in electoral Siberia, because you are the worst opposition in history and everyone knows it. You have just got to ask Victorians, who gave us a massive majority in the last election.

Members interjecting.

Sonja TERPSTRA: I know that is lost on you over there. Let me just go to a couple of things. As of today, there are over 17,000 Victorians directly employed on our Big Build programs. For every 100 jobs on the Big Build there are 200 more supported through the supply chain. Jobs are good for Victorians. They actually contribute to the economy – remember that thing? It is funny about that. More than 277 million hours have been worked across our Big Build projects so far; 9 million hours have been clocked up by trainees, apprentices and cadets since 2016; and 5 million hours have been worked by Aboriginal people in the Big Build. That is absolutely fantastic, because not only do we get the opportunity with our Big Build program to build fantastic projects like the Suburban Rail Loop, we get to do some fantastic social procurement like the stuff I just mentioned – like engaging apprentices, cadets and also Aboriginal people to make sure that they get a share of the benefits of working on some of these Big Build projects.

This Suburban Rail Loop benefit – it is just going to be amazing. As we know, this first tranche will run from Cheltenham to Box Hill. It will slash travel times and it will connect people on the Gippsland corridor to create up to 8000 direct jobs as well. Construction started in June 2022, and trains will be running by 2035. Tunnel-boring machines will be in the ground and digging tunnels by 2026 – in two short years. It is going to happen. Currently there are 1200 workers helping to build it, and by 2026 we will have 4000 workers. These are jobs for Victorians who are going to directly benefit by being employed on this project. And it is a multidecade project, which means it will generate thousands of direct and indirect jobs, which is good for Victorians and is good for our economy.

Why would we not proceed with a project like this? Why would we – I know, because those opposite do nothing. That is why we have had to step into the breach, because you do nothing over there. All I hear from those opposite is constant criticism, and the criticism is really misinformed. I am going to go to some of this. It is going to be amazing, because this is just ridiculous, completely ridiculous.

Evan Mulholland interjected.

Sonja TERPSTRA: I already dispelled yesterday, Mr Mulholland, some of the disinformation that you were putting out there, so I am very happy to talk about facts. Just in terms of why we have to deliver this project – again, what is lost on those opposite is we know we have got the single biggest investment in public housing in a generation in Victoria, and this is why this is important as well. In 2050 Melbourne will be home to around 9 million people, which is roughly the size of London. What do you do if you do not have a good public transport system?

A member interjected.

Sonja TERPSTRA: Of course they did. If you do not have a good public transport system, no-one can get around. You cannot turn around and plan for that growth in 2045 if you do not start planning today and start putting that funding in. When Mr Mulholland talks about federal funding – and I will just say, we have been really clear on the costs of SRL and SRL East. It was costed at $30 billion to $34.5 billion, and we are on track to hit that target. We have been very transparent about it, and our recent budget continues to show those estimates. We have worked with the Commonwealth government and welcome their $2.2 billion initial investment. That point was lost on you, Mr Mulholland. It is an initial investment, because you know what? There is a thing where every year budgets get delivered, whether it is a state budget or a federal budget. So we are very hopeful and optimistic that there will be further contributions in the future from the federal government, because as the Prime Minister said when he announced the funding commitment, ‘I can’t think of a more exciting infrastructure project in the entire nation, and that’s why federal Labor will contribute an initial contribution of $2.2 billion to this project.’ He added, ‘It will do what great cities do.’ That is what our Prime Minister has said in regard to this project, so again, it completely smashes the rhetoric of those opposite.

Let me go to the Parliamentary Budget Office costings. The costings they quote are actually ludicrous, including costs to build and operate SRL North and SRL East into the 2080s, replace trains multiple times – blah, blah, blah. Despite the framing of the dodgy question, the PBO report actually makes it very clear once again that the cost to build SRL East is well within the government’s estimate of $30 billion to $34.5 billion. That is what the PBO has said. So again, despite the spin and the rhetoric that comes from over there – it is really good when they bring these misguided and ill-informed motions, because we actually get to dispel the rhetoric and the rubbish that is coming from those opposite. We look forward to those opposite actually costing all their proposals with 50 years of operations built in, because it will be a real challenge for them because they actually have no alternatives. What is the alternative? Nothing, other than saying, ‘No, we’re going to cancel everything.’ Just no to everything. It is very easy to say no, but there is no alternative. There is no alternative anything right now. So again, it is wonderful to debate this motion, because it is so ill-informed and misguided.

Also, what they do not understand, as I said, is we are actually delivering on upgrades to other infrastructure, like upgrades on the Ballarat, Bendigo, Echuca, north-east, Warrnambool, Shepparton and Gippsland lines. There are projects that are already out delivering benefits for regional communities. There are 360 kilometres of new and upgraded tracks, and more than 80 level crossings have been upgraded across Victoria – gone. There are 18 new upgraded stations, here we go, at Cobblebank, Goornong, Huntly and Raywood, with 1000 new upgraded car spaces at Rockbank, Cobblebank, Huntly, Raywood, Mooroopna and Murchison – but that is all lost on those opposite – Waurn Ponds, Bacchus Marsh and Ballan. We are bringing modern VLocity trains to Bairnsdale, Shepparton and Albury–Wodonga. It is pretty clear what we are doing. We have made clear commitments to the Victorian community about our plans and our programs. Whilst we build infrastructure, we recognise that we need to do both – we need to build roads and we also need to build modern public transport infrastructure projects, like the Suburban Rail Loop.

As I said, we have been to two elections where we have talked about this, and the Victorian communities have backed us in in spades. We will be continuing to deliver this project. I cannot wait to see it get completed, and I am sure that those opposite will not travel on it then because they hate it so much. They will not actually travel on it. If they really were true to their word and thought it was so ridiculous, I am sure that none of them would get on it because otherwise they would be hypocritical.

In the minute that I have left I have to tell the chamber a small story. When I was leaving here last night at about a quarter past 9, I happened to have the misfortune of walking out of the building behind Mr McGowan’s car. If ever there was an advertisement for public transport, Mr McGowan’s old banger would have to be it. It is a very old Bongo van, a petrol-driven old Bongo van. If ever there was an advertisement to get old bangers off the road, it is Mr McGowan’s car. I was nearly asphyxiated by the pong coming out of that car. All I will say is we need to get vehicles off the roads, and these old vehicles just like that absolutely need to get off the road. This is why we need to build public transport infrastructure projects like Suburban Rail Loop.

This is a fantastic project despite what those opposite say. They really have nothing to add to the debate on this because they have no plans. They are the worst opposition in history. I am yet to hear any positive, optimistic anything from the opposition on their plans for either roads or rail or for anything else, whether it be hospitals, education, public anything, because we know they hate anything publicly funded. We will be voting against this motion, and we encourage everyone in this chamber to also vote against this motion.

Katherine COPSEY (Southern Metropolitan) (14:43): I will use my time today to talk about the overarching and structural problem that we face when discussing transport and major infrastructure projects here in Victoria. It is the lack of a long-term, transparent, integrated transport plan, which gets frequently in the history of our state cast aside in favour of chasing whatever project will give the government of the day the right media moments with hard hats and hi-vis. The Greens have been on record for decades arguing for more and better investment in public transport. There is merit in the concept of the Suburban Rail Loop (SRL) providing fast, high-capacity rail links between existing radial lines and connecting two unis to the heavy rail network for the first time. There is also devil in the details, and there is no doubt that there are substantive questions about the project that remain unanswered despite extensive investigation in terms of both process and outcomes.

For example, we recently heard in the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee that SRL station platforms are only currently planned to be built long enough for four carriages, matching the trains that will run from day one. If this is a generational investment in public transport as the government claims, what happens in a few decades when our population doubles –

Michael Galea interjected.

Katherine COPSEY: I am very much looking forward to the 2-minute trains; I have heard that – and we want to extend those trains in the future? How will we extend underground platforms without massive expense and disruption? Some of our current stations are well over a century old in the rail network. Will the SRL stations be futureproofed to 2050, let alone to the end of this century? Many SRL stations are designed to act as interchanges with existing stations. There are longstanding concerns about the design of those interchanges, with some SRL stations being up to 300 metres from their existing counterparts. Will a big, long walk like that allow for the kind of seamless integration that we see in successful lines in London or Tokyo? Probably not, I would argue.

The government is also granting significant planning powers over the areas around SRL stations and intends to develop these. Again, the Greens are on record, and have been for decades, supporting appropriate infill development, especially where this is transit oriented. However, we need to maintain the very necessary voice of communities in those developments, and this raises more questions: to what extent is this actually a transport project versus a development project? How have those different priorities been weighed against each other in this development? Who is going to benefit financially from significant upzoning of this land? These design issues and unanswered questions are symptoms of overall planning process issues for SRL and emblematic of the wider issues that are always evident in transport infrastructure planning in Victoria.

When the Andrews Labor government came to power in 2014 they did so promising to axe the dud east–west link on the basis that it did not stack up and was not justified. We could have been forgiven for thinking we were entering a more enlightened age of transport planning. But after they got into government of course Transurban talked Labor into the massive West Gate Tunnel, which, like all big new urban freeways, will induce demand and make traffic worse. Not only that, it has been poorly executed, suffering from huge delays and blowouts. I saw reported the other day that the project’s builders are now suing designers, claiming significant failures in basic requirements like steel gantries not complying with VicRoads specifications. But it was not just this dud road project. We got another surprise when Labor sprung the colossally wasteful and damaging North East Link on the people of Victoria.

On freight rail we have had years of dithering that has held up vital intermodal terminals in Melbourne’s north and west. It finally appears that the northern terminal is proceeding, but we are concerned that it looks like Labor is throwing the equally important western terminal in the too-hard basket, a decision that will condemn the western suburbs to years more of dangerous, polluting trucks on their streets and Victorians at large to significantly more transport-related carbon emissions.

The level crossing removal project has been a real mixed bag. After many of the projects had been announced and picked, the government belatedly released a framework for prioritising crossings in October 2018, but even that framework does not seem to have been used for prioritisation of announcements after the election.

In the face of all this, other bang-for-buck and worthwhile projects go wanting: the electrification of Melton and Wyndham Vale rail; the duplication of the Upfield line; finally meeting our obligations to make tram stops accessible; reforming our bus networks to provide fast, frequent links where people need to go; and providing safe, separated cycling infrastructure throughout Melbourne and regional cities. I do wish the government all the best in their latest efforts to get airport rail back on track so we can finally see this long-promised project delivered.

All of these issues come back to the fact that Victoria has no published integrated transport plan, as required by legislation. The Transport Integration Act 2010 requires the government to prepare an integrated plan, but they consistently have failed to do so. We need a plan that has been prepared by professionals who work closely with the community to meet our community’s needs for decades come.

Richard WELCH (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (14:48): I am pleased to rise on this motion. There are a number of false premises built into this project, and I am going to go through a range of them. The first is that the entire premise starts with a circular logic. Why are we building this rail connection? It is because the population is coming there. Why is the population coming there? Because we are building the rail network. One presupposes the other supposedly and it is a circular argument. We must have the rail loop because the population is coming, but the population is coming because we are building the rail loop. The argument is that there is infrastructure in the east. Yes, there is infrastructure in the east, suitable for the population that exists there. It is not suitable for a doubling and tripling of that population, because if it was, you would not have to build the rail loop. The infrastructure clearly is not there for that extra population.

Of course the other false premise built around this –

Michael Galea interjected.

Richard WELCH: No. I will try and keep it simple for you if I can, Mr Galea. This goes to the root of the business case itself: there is no return on investment. Some estimates think we are going to get 30 cents to the dollar back in this. As has already been pointed out by Mr Mulholland, Infrastructure Victoria did not approve it. Infrastructure Australia are sitting on a report. I do wonder what will happen when that report comes out – what we will actually get to see eventually. So again there are two false premises.

Another common explanation we get is that Melbourne is going to be as big as London and London has an orbital train network. Well, I can tell you as someone who lived in London for a long time that London does not have an orbital train system at all. The closest thing it has is a line called the circle line, and the circle line occupies an area that does not go much outside Regents Park. It is a very small orbit. The other important thing about London is of course that that circle line was built nearly 100 years ago – some of it more than 100 years ago – and it was built at a time when there were absolutely no protections for open space. There were no protections for residents or communities in the way of those tunnels. In fact it was one of the most brutal examples of urban infrastructure development we have. It should be noted that the vast majority of businesses that rammed the circle line through the suburbs of London went broke. It was not financially viable. It should be noted that London’s population at that time was not 7 million or 9 million. London’s population at that time was 12 million people, in an urban footprint not much further than Preston. So it was far denser in population than we have in Melbourne and are likely to have in Melbourne at any time in the future. And the quality of life in London at that time at that density in that area was barely past Dickensian. This is the last template we would want for Melbourne. No-one in Melbourne wants this. No-one in Melbourne has asked for this, least of all the people in the suburbs where this is being imposed.

It is also clear that London is supported by a magnificent bus network and other transport links. The London Underground would not function if it was not for the bus network, and indeed a bus network would be a far simpler, faster, cheaper, more efficient and more appropriate to-scale solution than the Suburban Rail Loop (SRL). It is something that could be delivered far sooner far cheaper. The bus network is indispensable to the operation of the much-lauded London Underground, which is a point that is sorely overlooked. We could deliver that much faster and sooner.

The other point of course is one which is well made, which is the use of capital for productive or non-productive purposes. An economy – the state economy – has only so much capital to invest, and it only in fact has so much capital it can feasibly borrow. It is important then that that capital is put to what they call ‘productive’ purposes. There is very, very good economic evidence that cities that invest non-productive purposes go into a malaise. The best examples of that are cities that host the Olympics. Cities since the war who have hosted the Olympics and poured their productive capital into non-productive purposes such as stadiums and some connecting roads there generally have gone into economic decline for about 20 years subsequent to that, including Melbourne, including Sydney. It certainly includes Montreal. It includes Rome and includes most cities that do it.

We need our capital put to its most productive purposes, particularly if we are talking about the transport component. The best example of the trade-off here – the quid pro quo – is we are not doing the western interstate freight terminal. WIFT is essential to our freight efficiency. It is essential productive capital that would improve the economics of this state, would reduce freight costs by up to 40 per cent and would get trucks off our roads. That is where our capital should be going. A tunnel through the eastern suburbs going north to south for no particular market will not add to this state’s wealth, it will rob it, and it will rob it deeply because it is $40 billion on this and then another $160 million or $170 million beyond that.

Productive capital is essential. I can cite another example: in India they put their capital into productive infrastructure such as airports. Before they built a series of airports around the nation, it was extremely difficult to do business in that nation. They put their money into airports and suddenly it opened up the regions. It opened up economic development to whole areas of India that did not have access to trade and commerce, because they put their infrastructure where it was needed and where it would generate wealth.

It remains utterly reckless for the government to go signing contracts for non-productive purposes, and signing contracts in a context where so many details of the scope and the time and the scale and the risk and the planning of all this remains ill defined. If you sign contracts in that context, it is inevitable that the risk of the project is going to fall back on the state, not the developers. The state is heavily in debt. It is losing frontline services. It is under review by credit agencies. We could have had $40 billion of budget repair right there to save any future downgrade of our credit rating, but it was quarantined and they chose not to. The government wants to pretend that there is no cost to this choice. There is a cost to this choice, and it has been cited already – the loss of frontline services, the loss of other opportunities for economic development in this state, all for a suburban vanity project that serves no direct purpose other than property speculation.

The other furphy is the benefit to the community, because the people of Box Hill, Glen Waverley and Burwood are probably almost the last in line in terms of consideration here. It has been said repeatedly that the SRL went to two elections. I am sure the brand name ‘SRL’ went to two elections, and a press release –

Evan Mulholland interjected.

Richard WELCH: It was originally ‘SRL Airport’, indeed, Mr Mulholland. Certainly people said, ‘Okay, on the notion, on what we know, that might be a good idea.’ And then the details started to come out. I can absolutely guarantee you – it is a matter of fact – that no-one told these communities that there were going to be 40-storey-plus residential buildings. No-one told the businesses of that area there would be 10 years of disruption to their businesses, perhaps never to return. No-one told us that this train network would never be directly connected to the rest of the transport network. No-one told us that the trains themselves would not even be the same gauge as the rest of our transport network, so this is going to be an outlier piece of technology. No-one told this community that there would be no matching social infrastructure.

When we talk about the area, we have a number of schools in the area. They are all at capacity, they all have their open space being intruded upon. Indeed Box Hill High School, which I visited recently, has absolutely no open space in the school at all, not even a soccer field. It has one indoor basketball court, no playing fields at all, for 1500 students. Across the road from that school they are building a 40-storey apartment building as part of the SRL. Where are the students – (Time expired)

Jacinta ERMACORA (Western Victoria) (14:58): Once again we have an opposition that proposes to stop something. Does that sound familiar? While the Allan Labor government is focused on delivering the projects Victorians need, those opposite only take shots from the side while never delivering anything. We will not be lectured by the opposition. When they were in government, they did not deliver a major project, because they have a very strong record of stopping things and looking for every opportunity to cancel projects. Not content with trying to stop the Suburban Rail Loop, the opposition is also currently fearmongering about hospital closures – indeed we were being lectured by a former local member from Warrnambool Denis Napthine about this very matter this week. It really showed breathtaking hypocrisy, because he showed a remarkable propensity to stop things when he was a minister in the Kennett government. They literally closed down regional hospitals – not enhanced regional hospitals but closed them down. I will give you a list of closed hospitals under the Kennett government: Eildon, Murtoa, Red Cliffs, Clunes, Beeac, Birregurra, Lismore, Elmore, Waygara, Macarthur in my electorate – in fact in Denis Napthine’s own electorate, and Koroit in my electorate and Mortlake. Several other hospitals were privatised, in particular Traralgon and Mildura. I know the Labor government has corrected that, much to the absolute delight of the Mildura community.

It is tragic up until this day that the opposition also gutted TAFEs. So again the coalition’s track record speaks for itself. When last in power they cut hundreds of millions of dollars out of the TAFE sector, crippling TAFE institutes. TAFEs posted record deficits, sacked staff and closed campuses, including Lilydale and Greensborough. Seventy jobs alone were lost in Warrnambool at South West TAFE. The Liberals’ chokehold on TAFE funding has been a key driver for the lack of tradies at the moment –

Evan Mulholland: On a point of order, Acting President, I read the motion really carefully and I could not see anything about TAFE. I am wondering whether the member has the right motion, so just on relevance.

Ingrid Stitt: On the point of order, Acting President, Mr Mulholland’s contribution was pretty broad and did go to a range of different issues. He traversed a whole range of portfolios, including mental health, health – a number of them. So I think it is a bit rich him taking a point of order on Ms Ermacora’s contribution, which she has barely begun.

The ACTING PRESIDENT (Bev McArthur): Unfortunately, I was not here to hear Mr Mulholland’s words of wisdom. Perhaps, Ms Ermacora, you could get back to the motion at hand.

Jacinta ERMACORA: So we are talking about the recent proposal from those opposite to stop yet another project. That is the theme, and I appreciate your effort. But that is the theme here and there is a pattern going on that gives us a clue of what those opposite might look like and what they might do if they formed government, and decimating TAFEs is only part of the story of what would happen if they formed government.

The closure of schools is also another thing that would happen if they formed government, based on the previous record under the Kennett government. Also, I would like to say that there were schools closed in my community – South Warrnambool Primary School was closed under the Kennett government. I have a story to tell about the closure of schools during the Kennett era. Very sadly my husband and I purchased some second-hand floorboards from a primary school in Kensington that was closed down by Jeff Kennett and those floorboards are in my dining room and back living room right now. That is the shame that we are reminded of over and over again.

I am particularly proud of how our government has reinvested in TAFEs, particularly under the leadership of Minister Gayle Tierney. I think it is a huge contrast to what is being proposed yet again here. It is a regrettable legacy to this day that Kennett closed 56 state schools, abolished 4000 teaching positions and sacked 3760 school cleaners and 830 administrative staff. In getting towards the end of my contribution, I really think that it is a bit rich. We have got this sort of proposal presented by Mr Pesutto only a few minutes ago across the road on the Great South Coast. ‘We’re really not that different to the government,’ he was basically saying. ‘We agree on a lot of things. We just disagree on how things are going to be done.’ I kind of think, ‘Oh, that gives us a bit of an idea of what they are thinking – don’t worry about us.’ But the truth is you will be closing things down because that is the pattern. That is your modus operandi.

I guess I might leave it at that, but really it is a reversion to type: ‘Let’s not go ahead with the Suburban Rail Loop. Let’s sack 400 people who are currently working on that and go no further on it.’ I really think that we need to be very careful as Victorians to hold the opposition to account on exactly what is being proposed, because you cannot say ‘Fund this. Fund this’ and complain about taxes at the same time. It just does not add up. I will finish there.

Trung LUU (Western Metropolitan) (15:05): I rise today to speak on Mr Mulholland’s motion 422. On this motion I would like to touch on a few points. In my contribution I would like to emphasise that this is the most expensive transport infrastructure project in Victoria’s history. In point (3):

to date, the federal Labor government has committed just $2.2 billion towards the project, with federal minister for infrastructure Catherine King stating that no further money will be provided until the project has been assessed by Infrastructure Australia …

I know my colleagues have addressed this motion and emphasised the poor investment that this Labor government has put towards the Suburban Rail Loop (SRL) and the lack of a business case that the SRL has, but what I want to do in my contribution is address how this has affected my community out in the west, how it has put more burden on my constituents, how more taxes have been put on my constituents and how other projects have been cut and been delayed because of the SRL, because the government is putting all the money into one basket. I will briefly mention point (5) in this motion:

the independent Parliamentary Budget Office has costed stages 1 and 2 of the project at $216 billion …

That is what I will be speaking to in relation to the cost and what it means to my constituents in the west.

On this side of the chamber we stand for taxpayers, and we know that Labor cannot manage money. The Labor government spends money that it does not have. To do so, they are paying for the project by increasing tax and scrapping projects which are desperately needed. The facts are that at the moment current Victorian taxes are the highest. Victorians are already paying the highest taxes in Australia. On average each taxpayer pays $5772. This is more than in any other state. Victorians are paying 73 per cent more than Tasmanians and 70 per cent more than South Australians, and compared to New South Wales, Victorians are paying 23 per cent more, so let us not forget New South Wales. Victoria has higher debt than New South Wales, Tasmania and Queensland combined, so when the Labor government put all their money and focus into the SRL, the majority of Victorians suffer due to the lack of infrastructure which is required to keep Victoria running.

Point (2):

in 2022, the Victorian Labor government stated that the $34.5 billion SRL East would be funded through three equal $11.5 billion contributions from the Victorian state government, the federal government and new taxes via ‘value capture’ initiatives …

The state government by all means will put in whatever they can by cutting other projects. The federal government is on pause at the moment. Where is that money coming from? The third one is tax. So at the moment we are looking at two-thirds of the $34.5 billion, which they say is feasible, being paid by Victorians. By what means? Tax – more tax. So with Victorians paying the highest tax in Australia, we are looking again at paying more and more every day to compensate for their endeavour to finish the SRL project. To date the Albanese Labor government has committed only $2.2 billion to the project.

Michael Galea: Only $2.2 billion – that is quite a lot of money, Mr Luu.

Trung LUU: Only $2.2 billion at this stage. Hopefully you would ask for more and maybe –

A member interjected.

Trung LUU: If it stacked up, then maybe the federal government would assist. Unfortunately, it does not stack up. The federal minister for infrastructure Catherine King stated that no further money will be provided to the project, which has to be assessed by Infrastructure Australia.

The SRL has been one of the most expensive transport projects ever undertaken in Victoria. It will be a burden on the average Victorian for many decades to come. The question is whether spending all this money on one project is the right thing to do, especially when the country is going through a cost-of-living crisis and all major infrastructure and critical services are paying the price. With the federal government walking away from the project, I have to ask: what are we doing? What is this Labor government leading Victorians into?

I mentioned my Western Metropolitan electorate – what are we missing out on? The electrified Melton railway line was promised by this Labor government in their 2018 campaign pledge. It was a feasible project – at the time the transport infrastructure minister said it was feasible – and they pledged to have the Melton line electrified. And yet it has been scrapped to prioritise the SRL. That is one line connected to my west that has gone. The other one, the Wyndham line, exactly the same thing – again, it has been sacrificed for the SRL. At the moment, what is the west getting out of this? Zilch. Cancelled project after cancelled project. And that is not to mention the airport railway link.

Local communities like Tarneit, Deer Park, Ardeer, Cobblebank, Rockbank and Caroline Springs in my electorate are still looking forward to critical upgrades and essential improvements to their public transport to accommodate the growing population in the area. Yet the west is now faced with the most congested and dangerous roads in Melbourne. When projects are delayed and rail improvements are cancelled, it means more families are forced onto poorly maintained local roads that are bursting at the seams. In recent times Brimbank City Council has written to the minister indicating they cannot afford to cover three-quarters of the cost for the state government in maintaining arterial roads, due to rising costs. Everything is going to the SRL. Out west, we are suffering. We are paying more tax and projects are being cancelled and delayed. They are saying – not me, but many, many of my constituents – the west is being neglected. Decade after decade nothing has changed. Another example is that the Manorvale Primary School in Melton and Melton South Primary School upgrades, promised by this government, have been cut. Why? Because the SRL is going ahead.

In the last few minutes of my contribution I want to express that it is not only that there is no business case and it does not stack up, but is it really worth it for all Victorians if we put all the money into the SRL when all the critical infrastructure and all the critical services are paying the price to have the eastern section doubling up on the railway line? Just think about it: what are we actually doing? Are we catering for the eastern side or are we catering for all Victorians? That is all the services, all the critical infrastructure and the taxes we are paying to make ends meet and put food on our table.

John BERGER (Southern Metropolitan) (15:14): I rise to speak on motion 422 moved by Mr Mulholland. It has seven parts, and notice was given last sitting week. Mr Mulholland has given me plenty of time to prepare, so I thank him for this contribution today. This motion regards the eastern stretch of the Suburban Rail Loop (SRL), a project that will change our state. I remind Mr Mulholland that the eastern suburbs, which I hope he knows a bit about, sent a resounding message to Victorian Liberals by voting for the project twice. I was at a pre-poll every day in the lead-up to the election, and in between all the noise in the electorate of Ashwood – I was supporting my good friend in the other place Matt Fregon – the SRL kept getting the thumbs up. Across the east in seats that the Australian Labor Party has never held before, people were resoundingly voting for it, and we will deliver, just like we will deliver Metro Tunnel, opening next year – something I have had the chance to tour many times.

Just like the Metro Tunnel, the Suburban Rail Loop is going to improve Melbourne’s public transport in a big way. The way we move around and across this great city, whether it is for work, study or leisure, will be easier and faster. Three transport super-hubs across the Suburban Rail Loop will greatly improve how Melburnians move around Melbourne and even how Victorians move around Victoria. These hubs are set to be located at Sunshine, Broadmeadows and Clayton, and there are additional connections to the existing network at the following stations: Cheltenham, Glen Waverley, Box Hill, Heidelberg, Reservoir, Fawkner and Werribee. This expansion allows for more flexible travel across the city. Gone will be the days of having to go all the way into Flinders Street station and then come back out. More direct connections will mean faster travel and less crowded trains.

Overall the Suburban Rail Loop and its hub system will do great things for the state of Victoria – hubs that will be centres for commerce; hubs that will help Victorians travel for work, study or play. Those opposite want these stopped. Further, these super-hubs mean that the Suburban Rail Loop will intersect with three outer-metro stations that service V/Line, supporting regional Victorians. This means travelling to regional Victoria will be easier regardless of where you live in Melbourne. It also means that regional Victorians coming into Melbourne can take a much more direct route to their metropolitan destinations, meaning faster, smoother travel.

Just like the changes that we will make to inner-city travel following the Suburban Rail Loop, V/Line passengers will have the option to avoid Southern Cross station for direct travel, with less congested interchange stations. We on this side of the chamber believe in supporting and improving V/Line. That is why the Suburban Rail Loop has been designed to benefit V/Line passengers as well as Metro Trains passengers. The Allan Labor government’s track record on support for V/Line services and its patrons is consistent across the board. The perfect example is the capping of V/Line tickets at the same price as metropolitan tickets. This motion is full of politics and gestures. It is better suited to the federal Parliament than this place.

This motion is the opposition saying that they want the Allan Labor government to be like the Liberals and ignore public transport. Instead, we are delivering the most ambitious rail expansion that this state has ever seen. Along with the super-hubs, the Suburban Rail Loop project will introduce five new stations to the loop. There are two stations allocated in the east and the north and one station in the airport rail stretch of the loop. The big winners here are students, with those three stations located near some of the largest universities in Melbourne. Particularly in my neck of the woods, Monash students will benefit. Along with the Parkville station that was completed recently and a part of the Metro Tunnel Big Build project, the Allan Labor government is ensuring that students can get to their campuses faster and more easily.

SRL East Cheltenham to Box Hill has been consistently costed at $30 billion to $34.5 billion. The business and investment case noted that contributions to pay for the SRL would be sought from the state and federal governments from a value capture. The Liberal Party has multiple Parliamentary Budget Office references to the cost of the SRL East and North to build and operate for 50 years. This includes replacing the train fleet in 40 years time. This is not how infrastructure is costed. This has been used for decades, including the city loop. The SRL is going to generate tens of thousands of jobs. Approximately 24,000 Victorians will be employed in positions relating to the Suburban Rail Loop build. This estimate just includes those who have been employed directly by the Victorian government for Suburban Rail Loop related roles. Eight thousand of these jobs will be in the east. Among these job opportunities 10 per cent, or 800 of them, will be available for trainees, apprentices and cadets.

The SRL graduate program offers postgraduate students the opportunity to have hands-on experience. The graduate program offers a range of roles that participants will be able to join in to grow and hone their professional skills alongside experts. With the program lasting two years, participants will be able to participate in a broad range of fields to develop under the tutelage of the industry professionals. The Allan Labor government has introduced the SRL graduate program and set aside 10 per cent of jobs for trainees to ensure that we are continuing to train professionals and planning for the future of employment.

The number of jobs expected to be created in the Suburban Rail Loop areas from Cheltenham to Melbourne Airport is nearly 550,000 by 2050. These jobs will be close to train stations, making the commute easier and making the workday better. The Allan Labor government is about jobs and job creation. For every 100 jobs on the Big Build another 200 are estimated to be supported through the supply chain. At the peak of the construction about 50,000 direct and indirect jobs are supported, including more than 277 million hours worked across the Big Build to date.

We know that Melbourne is growing and this is needed. It is growing faster than any other city in Australia. That is part of why the Suburban Rail Loop is so important, yet the Liberals would like to stop that progress. Victorians know that only an Allan Labor government will deliver big projects like the Big Build. This includes the Suburban Rail Loop, which will reshape our city as it grows in the decades ahead. The impacts will extend beyond transportation, with very exciting implications for innovative hub planning.

As we know in this chamber, housing is a major priority for the Allan Labor government. We need to build better transport to our communities to unlock the value of living in the suburbs, and we need to build more homes in activity centres right around Melbourne. I know this firsthand. One of the first of the 10 activity centres is based in my community of Hawthorn at Camberwell Junction, and I was pleased to recently chair a meeting of the community consultative committee on how this will shape my community. That means more homes and better transport links, and part of this wider plan is the SRL, because only the Allan Labor government has a plan. Only this side of the chamber has a plan for Victoria.

It was this very government that delivered the housing statement last year, and this government is delivering 800,000 homes across Victoria. The Allan Labor government is using the opportunity that the new Suburban Rail Loop East precincts offer to deliver even more housing to Victorians. By building 70,000 homes near Suburban Rail Loop precincts the Allan Labor government is ensuring that all Victorians can live close to where they work, close to where they study and close to where they call home. There is no alternative. If we cannot build this, in 50 years the seams will be breaking. Just because we did not build it 50 years ago is no reason not to build it now. It would be vandalism to our future generations.

This motion glosses over the fact that the federal Labor government delivered $2.2 billion to Victoria for the Suburban Rail Loop. Even Albo said it: he could not think of a more exciting infrastructure project in the entire country. That is because Labor governments have big visions. We listen to the people, like how they voted twice in support of a government that will deliver the Suburban Rail Loop. The web of benefits this project offers Victoria is something that should not be played down.

To end today, think about what cancelling the SRL would mean: 4000 workers will be sacked, 24,000 jobs will be cancelled, thousands of Victorians will find it harder to afford a home that they can reach and the vote of the Victorian people will be ignored. We will not be doing that.

Gaelle BROAD (Northern Victoria) (15:23): I am pleased to speak on this motion put forward by my colleague Mr Mulholland about the Suburban Rail Loop. I must admit I was absolutely staggered that the state government are still tunnelling ahead with this proposal when it is clear they have no idea how to fund it. Mr John Berger just said this government, and I quote, ‘has a plan’. Well, the only plan this government has is a marketing plan, because you announce projects and you cannot deliver them.

The state government should consider the budget impact of this major project in the light of Victoria’s rapidly growing debt. After a decade of financial mismanagement under Labor, Victoria’s net debt has risen from $21.8 billion and is set to reach $187.8 billion by 2027–28. That is not too far away. We have the highest debt of any state in Australia – more than Queensland, New South Wales and Tasmania combined. Due to Labor’s financial mismanagement over the last decade we are currently paying over $15 million every single day in interest. This next financial year it is going to jump to $18 million a day and close to $26 million every day by 2027–28. The Treasurer referred to a disciplined budget, but this is far from that. Labor has no plan to repay the debt. Victoria’s annual interest bill is set to reach $9.7 billion by 2027–28. That is close to 9 per cent of the government’s total revenue spent paying interest on our state debt instead of going towards vital services.

When you consider the Suburban Rail Loop, I understand the business case for this major project was developed through the Premier’s office and announced before the 2018 election. The SRL will be the biggest infrastructure project in the state’s history without a proper business case. It would certainly be worth reviewing the government’s project costings for the Suburban Rail Loop, which are well under the costs projected by the Parliamentary Budget Office. In her contribution to this debate Sonja Terpstra questioned the figures that we have been quoting, but I have looked them up again. The Parliamentary Budget Office has costed stages 1 and 2 of the project at $216 billion. It is there in the report, page 1. She will not need to go far to have a look, but it is very clear from the graph that this is a huge amount of funding.

I would certainly like to know what consultation the government did with key stakeholders about the merits of this project, like Infrastructure Victoria, the Department of Transport and Planning and Infrastructure Australia. It is a big idea that Labor has spruiked before the state election, as I mentioned, in 2018 and again in 2022, but it would be very interesting to know when this major project was considered and approved by state cabinet. I would also like to know how the project will be funded, considering the limited funding committed by the federal government during the federal election campaign – as has been mentioned, $2.2 billion – and that no further funding was allocated in the recent federal budget.

I would also like the government to consider the impact of the 8000 employees required to work on the project, the demand for workers during the current housing crisis when the building industry is already under pressure and the inflationary pressures of this major project. This budget has seen reduced funding for the regions, a lack of funding for regional roads, school upgrades delayed, the free kinder program and early learning centres deferred, hospital upgrades deferred and so much more. I am just scratching my head. $207 million has been cut from public health on top of millions cut from dental services, aged care, ambulance services, health workforce training and maternal and child health. Funding for the CFA and SES is also inadequate. The majority are volunteers; they are the backbone of our local communities and they deserve better.

I was also stunned to see a 75 per cent funding cut to the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre Alliance. Cancer affects so many families right across Victoria, including mine. Why has the Premier signed contracts to progress the Suburban Rail Loop, which improves public transport in suburbs that already have public transport, when we have growing suburbs without proper public transport? Labor continues to raise taxes because their priorities are all wrong and they keep wasting money on projects like the Suburban Rail Loop.

John Berger: What are your priorities?

Gaelle BROAD: Because Labor cannot manage money, Victorians now pay the highest taxes in Australia. I will tell you, Mr Berger, what some of my priorities are, because they certainly are not this government’s priorities.

My priority is representing regional Victoria, which has been neglected for far too long by this government. Twenty-five per cent of the population lives in regional Victoria, yet in the recent state budget, Mr Berger, we got just 2 per cent of government infrastructure expenditure under Labor. Regional Victorians will receive just $2 billion out of a $98 billion infrastructure spend. A priority I have is seeing a much fairer share of funding right across regional Victoria.

We have, for example, the Yarrawonga bridge. It is 100 years old this year. Trucks are so big now that they cannot fit together when going across that bridge. That is the kind of infrastructure we want to see in regional Victoria. The Kilmore bypass – trucks go straight through the town. A bypass is what we want to see. It is the same in Shepparton. V/Line you referred to. I tried to catch a train home from Parliament last sitting week. The train in front broke down so an hour into the trip I had to turn around and travel an hour back. I am flabbergasted that we continue with the Suburban Rail Loop when we cannot even get our own current V/Line system working properly. Even at Public Accounts and Estimates Committee hearings the government failed to justify the massive gap in funding between metropolitan and regional areas that we have seen in this budget. Regional areas need investment. If we want Victoria to prosper, we have to stop having a city-heavy focus and focus on governing for the whole of the state. Labor win elections with big promises, but they fail to deliver what they promise. Sonja Terpstra in this debate said, ‘Oh, people voted for it.’

A member interjected.

Gaelle BROAD: Twice, yes. But they did not know the details, because you have not been forthcoming or transparent at all. We have seen time and time again that this government fails to do their homework. They cannot manage money, and they cannot manage projects. It is time to stop tunnelling ahead with the Suburban Rail Loop. After 10 years of Labor in government, our state cannot afford it. It is 130 weeks until the next state election, and I can tell you it cannot come soon enough.

Michael GALEA (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (15:31): I rise today to speak on Mr Mulholland’s efforts to secure the re-election of Paul Hamer and John Mullahy, otherwise known as yet another motion by the Liberal Party attacking the Suburban Rail Loop. As we know and as I have shared many, many times in this place, the Suburban Rail Loop is a transformational project. It is going to be an essential project for our growing city. I have spoken many, many times in this place about the benefits, in particular for my constituents in the south-east. If you are in Cranbourne, if you are in Carrum, if you are in Cardinia Road – just the Cs alone – going into whether it is to Monash Uni, to Deakin Uni, to job opportunities in Box Hill, Glen Waverley, Cheltenham, and of course those agglomeration effects that we are going to see from this project, this is a project that does not just benefit the individual suburbs it will be stopping along, it will benefit entire swathes of Victoria, including regional Victoria – with Gippsland as well – just from SRL East alone and of course from the housing build as well that we will see as part of this project.

I normally do love getting up to counterbat some of Mr Mulholland’s arguments. I will make the point that it is a bit strange to be coming here today to be suggesting that the federal government is somehow walking away from this project, that they are not interested in investing in it, never mind the fact that they have already invested $2.2 billion in this project. You do not invest $2.2 billion or anything close to that figure if you do not believe in the project. In fact to pick up on the rounding error from Mr Mulholland, he did put the correct $2.2 billion figure in the motion, but he kept referring to it as just $2 billion. Please do not sit too close to Mr Davis, Mr Mulholland: we do not want you to be falling into his bad financial habits as well. We want you to be on top of things. Even just that rounding error alone, that $200 million, is a significant investment that shows the value of this project to the federal government. The fact that their investment is 11 times that should show that very clearly as well. As previous colleagues on this side of the chamber have outlined – and I believe to a point, Mrs Broad, you also intimated that you would accept as well – this is a project that the people of Victoria have voted for at two consecutive elections.

I would actually like to pick up on a couple of points that Mr Welch made in his contribution, firstly in regard to housing. This is a government that is actually – I do not know what your plan is, Mr Welch – determined to address the housing situation that we have in this state head-on. We do that by building the housing that our growing state needs. We need to be investing in these houses. That is why we have a commitment to build 800,000 homes over the 10-year period, and the SRL precincts are going to be a very big, very important part of that. It makes sense to concentrate responsible medium-density housing in and around those transport nodes, where people will be less reliant on cars. It is better for the environment, better for our urban design, better for the people living there themselves. So you might not like the idea of middle-growth housing, Mr Welch, but I can tell you what you are calling for – and I am sure Mr Mulholland will have something to say about that – is continued growth. We are investing in those growth suburbs, as I regularly enjoy discussing with Mr Mulholland in this place. I could rattle off all the new schools we are building just in the Berwick electorate alone, which completely surpass any built by their government in the entire state when they were last in office. I could easily go back into that argument. The other point I would say, Mr Welch: frankly, yes, we do need to have that housing built. If you think the solution to that is continuing to expand the outer suburbs until they have reached Traralgon or Bendigo, then I think the Victorian people have got something to tell you as well.

But the other point I would like to pull you up on, Mr Welch, is that you said that you lived in London at some point, and you said that we talk about – and yes, we do say it a bit because it is true –Melbourne’s population being projected to grow to be the size of London by the 2050s and that a city like London has those orbital rail networks. You responded to that by saying the Circle line is hardly evidence of that, and that you lived in London and you used the Circle line. I actually agree with you. The Circle line is actually quite an inner-city line. It is probably a bigger version of the city loop – what we have here – with quite a few more stops, but apart from that it is that sort of sized area. Incidentally I am sure this Liberal Party would be opposing the city loop as well, just as we had some apparent academics in the 1960s – no doubt from the same ilk as those that Mr Mulholland has been quoting from today – saying that this was a terrible project and we should not build the city loop. Never mind that. In fact, Mr Welch, I am surprised that you, having lived in London, are not aware of this, but there is in fact actually a specific orbital rail network called the London Overground. It serves well over 100 stations. It is a fully orbital network, and you said yourself that there are no orbital or cross-town railways in London. That is simply a fact. And the reason I can tell you that, Mr Welch, is I actually have this handy map here of the London Overground network, which actually shows a big circle.

With the permission of the house, I will now seek leave to table this document into Hansard.

Leave refused.

Michael GALEA: They do not want hear it. I am trying to assist the house today. I despair. I am in this place trying to correct the record. I am trying to help inform our friends Mr Mulholland and Mr Welch, but they do not want to see it. Mr Mulholland does not want to see it in Hansard. We had David Davis’s lovely long-form presentation yesterday that they were all too keen to get in with the different lines of all the same colour. But obviously the Liberal Party do not want to see this, because they do not want to acknowledge the fact that big, successful cities like London, and very much like Melbourne is becoming, have successful orbital railway networks, just like the SRL.

You can say the technology is different; absolutely, it is different technology. But when people get on the trains, they care about getting point to point. What they can do in London on the overground is get point to point. And that is exactly what you will have in Melbourne as well. We have an opposition here that do not want to see that. They do not want to acknowledge the fact that the Victorian people have voted in two consecutive elections for this project, and they refuse to acknowledge that the future in this city is more people getting around by train and not less. This is another ridiculous motion put forward by the Liberal Party. I do not support this motion.

Evan MULHOLLAND (Northern Metropolitan) (15:38): Well, well, well, well, well, we have had a string of contributions from Labor MPs, so it is important to correct a few points. You will see with that side of the chamber repeated talking points over and over variously changed between them. One of the quotes they were actually using was a quote from the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, which said that he could not think of a more exciting infrastructure project going on in Australia, and they quoted Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. The problem for them is he never said that comment as Prime Minister. He actually said that comment as opposition leader. I implore the members of the government, I implore the government backbenchers, to find a positive comment from Anthony Albanese as Prime Minister about the Suburban Rail Loop (SRL). And I bet you will not, because it was the Morrison government that said it did not stack up, that their experts had looked at it and they had advice it did not stack up. And it is basically Catherine King that is saying the same thing. We are waiting on a report from Infrastructure Australia. We are not going to get it.

John Berger: He has finished.

Evan MULHOLLAND: No, I am absolutely not finished. He did not actually say that comment when he was Prime Minister. He has not said a single favourable thing. You will not hear a single favourable thing. You will definitely hear federal Labor ministers around town bagging out the decision to proceed with the SRL. You definitely will hear that. I am sure their federal colleagues are not happy with it. I know there are several members of cabinet that are not happy with it, who think that other infrastructure projects are missing out. I could not help but hear in the talking points as well that somehow Gippsland would benefit from the SRL. Well, the thing that the people of Gippsland are annoyed about is: no hospital. Where is their hospital? Where is the Pakenham hospital? Ms Shing cannot show her face down there because everyone wants their hospital. Mr McIntosh does not even venture that far. He would not dare venture that far.

Michael Galea: On a point of order, Acting President, Mr Mulholland was very eager to bring other speakers on this side to order on the question of relevance. If he cannot even fill 5 minutes talking about his own motion, there is probably something wrong, but I ask him to return to his own motion.

The ACTING PRESIDENT (Bev McArthur): There is no point of order, Mr Galea.

Evan MULHOLLAND: I was talking about the references made to Gippsland, and I am summing up other contributions. It was also discussed about Box Hill and Glen Waverley and that they had given a massive endorsement. I do not believe the government revealed before that Box Hill would be going from 36 square metres of open space per person to 7 square metres of open space per person. I suspect the local member will be in for a drubbing at the next election for his deceitful actions towards his community. The member for Box Hill will be having a bigger election loss than he did in 2012 when he lost Griffin Ward, Banyule City Council, to my mother. It was good seeing him defeated at that election, and he will be defeated at the next election. He will be deleted – defeated and deleted at the next election.

In Glen Waverley as well, businesses are being destroyed. Their livelihoods are being destroyed. They are told they are going to have disruptions for 10 years. This is the contempt this Victorian government shows for businesses around the state, who they have taxed to high hell. They are saying, ‘You’re going to have 10 years of disruption.’ Many will never come back from that. They will never come back from that. That is the contempt they show for business.

The main point I want to make is: this project is robbing essential infrastructure projects from growth areas. The people of Greenvale will not be getting stage 2 of the Mickleham Road duplication because this government is proceeding with the SRL. The people of Wallan will not be getting electrification because they are proceeding with the SRL. The good people of Wyndham Vale and Melton will not be getting their train line electrified, despite being promised twice. They talk about having won two elections on the SRL. Well, technically you have won two elections in the west on the Western Rail Plan. Where is it? It is just going to be like the Melton hospital. You will put another fence around it before the next election – that is what you will do. You are robbing growth areas of essential infrastructure for a vanity project dreamed up in tax evasion city down the road in a locked room because of Jacinta Allan and Daniel Andrews proceeding with this stupid project.

Council divided on motion:

Ayes (14): Melina Bath, Gaelle Broad, Georgie Crozier, David Davis, Moira Deeming, Renee Heath, David Limbrick, Wendy Lovell, Trung Luu, Bev McArthur, Nick McGowan, Evan Mulholland, Rikkie-Lee Tyrrell, Richard Welch

Noes (17): Ryan Batchelor, John Berger, Lizzie Blandthorn, Katherine Copsey, Enver Erdogan, Jacinta Ermacora, Michael Galea, Shaun Leane, Sarah Mansfield, Tom McIntosh, Aiv Puglielli, Samantha Ratnam, Harriet Shing, Ingrid Stitt, Lee Tarlamis, Sonja Terpstra, Sheena Watt

Motion negatived.