Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yesterday I was quite proud to join a number of parliamentary colleagues, both state and federal, at the opening of the Victorian regional rail link, the first new rail project—90 kilometres of track—to be opened in the state of Victoria for over 80 years. This new regional rail link will allow up to 54,000 new passengers per day to travel into Melbourne. It will help the west, some of our largest growing communities. It will help them get to Melbourne in times of 30 minutes. In my own area, the area of Bendigo, it will allow for more and faster trains, because it is a regional rail link with a dedicated regional service. It means that our regional trains will not get stuck in the metro traffic of trains. It means that our regional trains will go direct from their last regional port into Southern Cross, allowing people to get there in faster times.

This project was funded by the former state Labor government and the former federal Labor government. It was a commitment to public transport. Our solution to the chaos in the cities and the traffic congestion is investing in public transport. Yet all we have seen from this government is no talk about public transport. In fact, it is cutting funding that was allocated to vital public transport projects, projects that will help the regions and projects that will help people around Victoria get to and from faster. (Time expired)