Thursday, 6 February 2025

Suburban Rail Loop

Evan MULHOLLAND (Northern Metropolitan) (12:07): (790) My question is to the Minister for the Suburban Rail Loop. Minister, in response to a very specific question on Tuesday regarding the year the government expects the Suburban Rail Loop to reach Werribee, you responded, ‘Read the business case.’ I will take you to section 1.7.2 of the investment case, which says the SRL West to Werribee will begin ‘as soon as possible’ but also specifically states there is no business and investment case yet for SRL West and that if the development is sequential, it could not start until 2053. Is the latter half of this century ‘as soon as possible’, or can the minister now provide a more accurate year the SRL West will reach Werribee?

Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for the Suburban Rail Loop, Minister for Housing and Building, Minister for Development Victoria and Precincts) (12:08): Mr Mulholland, it seems that perhaps someone in your office at least has read the business and investment case, and maybe they might like to share any kind of summary with your colleagues, who clearly have not. When we talk about the answers that I have already given, again I just want to confirm that 2035 is the date by which we will have trains on SRL East. I also want to be really clear that when we are talking about a multidecade project, we need to make sure that as it is staged and as we work through everything from value capture through to development, we are doing so in a way that is careful, that is based on information, that is current at the time and that is responsible. Mr Mulholland, this is a project that even former Premier Jeff Kennett thinks is a good idea, so you might want to, next time you are at the Melbourne Club, perhaps catch up with him about it.

I do just want to actually take you to timeframes, because when you have nation-defining infrastructure projects that are about land use and about planning development, it is about making sure that you stage those projects properly. As I said, $14 billion of the investment that we have made is about making sure we have got tunnel-boring machines in the ground next year. If you are going to scrap it, you need to say what will happen to that work. If Peter Dutton is going to scrap it, he needs to say what will happen to that work. The city loop, Mr Mulholland, was first proposed in 1929, and it was delivered in 1985.

Evan Mulholland: On a point of order, President, I asked for a more accurate year. Given the minister would not answer the other day, I asked for a more accurate year the government expects the SRL to reach Werribee, and she still has not answered the question.

The PRESIDENT: I believe the minister is being relevant to the question.

Harriet SHING: Mr Mulholland, there are contingencies here, and those contingencies, as much as anything else, relate to whether or not you have appetite and courage enough to be able to have a nation-building project that provides an orbital rail line around the city. Toronto has done it, London has done it, Sydney has done it –

David Davis: On a point of order, President, this was a very specific question about a date and the timeline, not a general swathe or attack on the opposition and others. She just needs to answer it.

The PRESIDENT: I stated before that I believe the minister has been relevant to the question.

Harriet SHING: So $14 billion later, and as we get on with the work at the Sunshine precinct –

Members interjecting.

Harriet SHING: I heard some conjecture about the western suburbs – look at the $80 million for Ison Road. Look at the Werribee line being level crossing free by 2035. You did not build a single school. Seven new schools, two upgraded schools, a record investment in housing –

David Davis: On a point of order, President, the minister is answering a set of different questions, not the simple question about when the SRL will reach Werribee.

The PRESIDENT: There were actually two questions asked, and I think the minister has been relevant to the first one.

Harriet SHING: The problem is that when you write questions that are about a gotcha and there is material that takes you directly to why it is responsible government to do the right thing in careful planning around land use and around transport delivery and infrastructure, it actually just shows that you can google something in the business and investment case but it does not actually mean that you have read it. So again, let us take you back to first principles. Mr Davis has indicated it has already been tabled, but I will happily, happily take you through it. I have got dozens of copies of this, and I am very pleased to share them with you.

Evan MULHOLLAND (Northern Metropolitan) (12:12): Minister, the business and investment case also says that the SRL West will be coordinated with the Western Rail Plan, electrifying the train line to Wyndam Vale – which has now been shelved by this government, depriving the people of Werribee – and that the SRL West will be subject to further investigation, planning and development. When will the further investigation, planning and development begin, or is the SRL to Werribee just like the Western Rail Plan, another empty promise to hoodwink the people of Werribee?

Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for the Suburban Rail Loop, Minister for Housing and Building, Minister for Development Victoria and Precincts) (12:12): See, Mr Mulholland, you were almost stacking it up in terms of a legitimate supplementary question until you got to that last sentence. When we talk about investment in the west, when we talk about investment in Werribee – and again it is really interesting to note your sudden interest in this part of the world that you neglected so significantly when you were last in government, to the dismay of the people who represent, at least from your side of things, that part of the world.

David Davis interjected.

Harriet SHING: Mr Davis, the work that we are doing goes on around making sure that we are delivering infrastructure and that we are delivering everything from roads to connections to ensure that as Melbourne’s fringes grow they are growing responsibly. In and of itself we hear constantly from people around the importance of connection, the importance of proximity and the importance of access to precincts. That is why it is always so curious to hear the paradox of you saying that in fact these things are not important in terms of our growth of population, amenity and the right of people to live closer to where they grew up. Again, Mr Mulholland, the work goes on, and we are the ones who are delivering it.