Tim Watts (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

On the weekend, I was very pleased to attend the opening of the congestion-busting Regional Rail Link in Melbourne's west. A joint project of state and federal Labor governments, the Regional Rail Link is the biggest Commonwealth investment in public transport infrastructure in our nation's history. It will add 54,000 passenger seats per day to Victoria's train system, reducing the time spent by Victorians commuting and saving Victorians $300,000 million a year by reducing traffic congestion.

The opening was attended by the Premier of Victoria, Daniel Andrews, and a bevy of state and federal MPs, including the member for Lalor, the member for Corio, the member for Bendigo, the member for Grayndler and the Deputy Prime Minister. Indeed, despite receiving its $3.2 billion in federal funding in May of 2009, at the opening of the Tarneit railway station, the Deputy Prime Minister credited the Howard government for the project. Some might say that 2009 was the best year of the Howard government, but even they would have had more credibility than a transport minister in the Abbott government opening an urban public transport infrastructure project. This is a government that refused to spend a cent on public transport. This is a government that slashed $3 billion from the Melbourne metropolitan rail tunnel project, yet the transport minister was like a modern-day Edward de Groot, charging to the front to cut the ribbon on a project he had nothing to do with. But this time it was not the Sydney Harbor Bridge but the Tarneit railway station. Instead of arriving on a white stallion, he arrived in a white Comcar. He might not have had a sword to match it with de Groot, but he certainly matched de Groot's chutzpah. If Warren Truss wants to open urban public transport projects, he should fund them.

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