Bruce Billson (Dunkley, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Small Business, Competition Policy and Consumer Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

Mobile phone use on our public transport can be quite annoying for passengers sitting close enough to hear much of another's conversation or the music playing. But these communication devices are underutilised in tackling another public transport user concern—and that is personal safety. Despite the excellent and widely supported Baillieu government initiative to deploy Protective Services officers across the network, recent surveys point to a continuing significant public transport passenger safety concern. This user hesitation pushes against the energy and public money being invested to encourage public transport use and to avoid unnecessary congestion on our roads. It is apparent that a higher proportion of people feel unsafe—or that their sense of personal security, or the positive travel experience they hope for, is being eroded—than is reflected by the 1,137 incidents recorded by police on trains across the state in the last year. Unfortunately, a few bad eggs lead to people feeling unsafe. And while these bad eggs may not be breaking the law, their behaviour can make people feel very much the worse for their public transport experience. This is why we can more effectively use the PSOs and make people feel safer on our trains.

The SMS service at the MCG and at Etihad Stadium to report anti-social behaviour at the cricket or at the footy works extremely well in making sure people feel safe, while keeping in check those who want to make life uncomfortable for those around them. On our trains in particular, too often people do not feel sufficiently concerned to dial triple-0, or to press the red emergency button, because this action in the circumstances they confront may well draw more unwelcome attention to them and make them feel even less safe on their journey.

So to deal with abuse, intimidation, unwanted attention or being in the vicinity of an alcohol affected or out of control nuisance, sending a discreet text message to a service, rather than an audible phone call or a physical march to push the red button, certainly seems to be a better solution. That is where this SMS service, similar to the ones used in the major stadiums in our city, could be used by train users to report antisocial, threatening or criminal behaviour in a very quiet and discreet manner. A service like this could allow people to covertly dob in the louts and they would not feel threatened by the discreet nature of that request for help. The PSOs, who are already employed on the train system, could then coordinate their efforts with the welfare of commuters and also keep an eye on antisocial behaviour. This SMS tool would assist the investment already being made to make our public transport more safe—by way of the PSOs and increasing police presence—even more effective by better targeting that response capability at the kinds of behaviour and incidents that erode confidence in public transport use. The timely and targeted presence of PSOs would be enough to make these bad eggs curb their behaviour and make people feel more comfortable during their journeys.

Beyond an initial stadium style SMS system, an app that could convey the user's location and the actual train service they are on would be a further enhancement offering smooth integration with the communications systems and tasking technology used by our valued PSOs and by our police.

So, while crime on trains remains fairly static in terms of number of incidents that are reported, there is something we can do to make the vast majority of public transport users be more happy with their experience, particularly on our trains.

Perhaps one of our telcos might support a trial on the heavily patronised Frankston line—a very popular rail service. Many computers make use of that important service between our city and our capital city.

On the topic of transport, it was terrific that recently the Peninsula Link was opened. Speaker, you might recall my campaigning for many years to have what was once known as the Frankston Bypass available to support the transport infrastructure of our community. It was a bit rich when we heard some of the state Labor opposition people claim that this asset should have been opened earlier—perhaps before the end of the year. If it were not for a concerted community campaign over many years and the compelling case many of us put forward on the Frankston Bypass, Labor would never have changed their minds and decided to shift their objection to this project to support.

It is terrific to see so many people using Peninsula Link. We had many people visiting it over the summer period. There is a notable absence of tourist directional signage, which is something I am certainly turning my mind to, to make sure that the benefits of the visitor industry for our region are optimised, as is the travel experience for many of the people in the Dunkley electorate who now have the prospect of reasonable road access to areas of economic, educational and cultural opportunity.

We have a bit more work to do extending the public transport line, but that is a speech for another day, and that is the next instalment on the transport strategy I continue to pursue.

See this speech in context