Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on issues arising from recent public transport zoning decisions made by the state government in Victoria. This is an issue that has particular resonance for my electorate, which covers several inner eastern suburbs of Melbourne, including Box Hill, Burwood, Mount Waverley and Glen Waverley. These suburbs are between 12 and 20 kilometres east of Melbourne and this is a strong growth area of Victoria. My electorate is also home to two great universities, which I have spoken about many times in this parliament: the Clayton campus of Monash University and the Burwood campus of Deakin University. One of Australia’s leading TAFEs, Box Hill Institute, is also part of my electorate and caters to thousands of students, as do Monash and Deakin.

Residents of these suburbs and students studying at these tertiary institutions deserve access to affordable, efficient public transport options. I welcome the recent decision made by the Victorian government to introduce new zone boundary changes for buses travelling to Monash University’s Clayton campus which enable students to use single zone cards. This is a decision that is long overdue. It will be of immense benefit to many students who use public buses to travel between their homes and classes. The issue of public transport zoning is a huge one for commuters in Melbourne. The difference between only requiring a zone 1 ticket as opposed to a zone 1 and 2 ticket is substantial. Commuters who purchase a daily ticket for zone 1 face a $6.80 charge, significantly less than the $10.60 charge facing those who travel over zones 1and 2. The extra $3.80 a day is a lot of money when added up over time, particularly for university students, many of whom struggle to make ends meet as it is. Also, it is considerably cheaper to take public transport to university than purchase on-site parking permits.

Zone 1 expires on the western border of my electorate, on Warrigal Road, meaning that residents either working or residing in my electorate have to pay the zone 1 and 2 fare when travelling across this border on public transport. While I welcome the decision to include Monash uni in zone 1, I cannot understand the logic behind the state government’s failure to extend the courtesy to buses travelling to Deakin University in Burwood. Deakin attracts around 13,000 students to its Burwood campus. It is actually geographically closer to zone 1 than Monash University and is now the only metropolitan university in Melbourne that falls outside of zone 1. This is a matter that needs to be addressed out of fairness and, more importantly, student safety.

Deakin have carried out a study showing that some students are spending less than $20 a week on food because such a large proportion of their money is going on public transport. As it currently stands, students travelling to Deakin from inner suburbs are cramming onto overcrowded buses, getting off at the end of zone 1 on Warrigal Road and making the 30-minute walk to the campus. The same applies in the evening, when students walk in darkness from the campus to the Warrigal Road zone 1 boundary. This creates obvious issues such as increased numbers of pedestrians in a high-traffic area, whilst also putting students in the vulnerable position of walking for 30 minutes under the cover of darkness. A number of these students come from overseas and feel insecure about this situation. They are only in this position through their need to avoid stretching their already stretched budgets further to pay their public transport costs.

I commend the Deakin University Student Association and the university itself for their work over many years in raising awareness on this issue and in lobbying the state government to consider revising the zone 1 boundary. I want to particularly pay credit to the outgoing President of DUSA, Cayla Edwards, and to Megan Jenner, the paid manager of DUSA, for their great work. Unlike the claim made in some recent statements about VSU, DUSA has produced some amazing individuals—one will be the No. 1 candidate for the National Party at the next election. So, unlike the outcry that all student associations produce Labor Party hacks, the No. 1 Senate candidate for the Nationals is a former DUSA president. I also pay credit to Bridget for her work in this area.

I call on the state government to look at this issue from a practical perspective and understand why Deakin students feel they have been overlooked. The public transport zoning issue is not solely confined to Deakin University, however. The suburb of Box Hill—14 kilometres east of Melbourne CBD in the north of my electorate—is the second largest retail and office precinct out of Melbourne city. It is also one of the largest growth suburbs in metro Melbourne. But, to the frustration of local residents and the wider Whitehorse community, the state government continues to deny Box Hill zone 1 status. I have joined with the Box Hill community in campaigning on this issue for some time and it is frustrating that our pleas are falling on the deaf ears of the state government. Box Hill TAFE accommodates thousands of students and many who are too young to drive, with 35,000 students enrolled in the past 12 months. Like Deakin University the primary mode of transport for students to the TAFE is public transport and they continue to be stung by zone 1 and 2 charges. Surely the same consideration afforded to Monash should apply to the thousands that travel to Box Hill TAFE to study. The suburb also accommodates a vast amount of retail and office space. It is time the state government took a serious look at expanding zone 1 to Box Hill and to the buses that accommodate the students of Deakin University.