Wednesday, 8 June 2022

Ministers statements: Suburban Rail Loop

Ms ALLAN (Bendigo East—Leader of the House, Minister for Transport Infrastructure, Minister for the Suburban Rail Loop) (14:16:536:): Last Thursday I joined the Premier, the member for Oakleigh and the member for Clarinda to announce the beginning of construction on the Suburban Rail Loop. As many members in the house know, the Suburban Rail Loop is more than a train line, it is a jobs juggernaut that is going to deliver better public transport, connect communities and also ease road congestion for generations to come.

It was great to join with the first of 8000 workers who will be supported with jobs on the Suburban Rail Loop east section alone, and these are direct jobs, because we know that for every one job on our Big Build program another two are created in the supply chain across a whole range of different industries. This early works package will create 800 jobs as part of the first stage, and some of the workers we met last week were young people—young cadets, apprentices and trainees—who are just starting out their career in this exciting industry.

We are coming off a big range of projects here. We know that across a range of different parts of the state our Big Build agenda is improving safety and slashing travel times; whether it is the Metro Tunnel, removing 85 congested and dangerous level crossings, the North East Link, the Echuca–Moama bridge or the Princes Highway east upgrade in Gippsland, these are projects that are delivering better transport connections and important jobs that are needed now and into the future in our community and economy. Twenty thousand Victorians are supported on the Andrews Labor government’s Big Build projects, and they are jobs, as I said, for a lifetime. Thanks to our Major Projects Skills Guarantee, more than 5 million hours have been worked since 2018 alone by those young apprentices, trainees and cadets.

Victorians know there is a risk because the Liberal-National party have already told them that they will cut this pipeline and they will scrap the Suburban Rail Loop. Only the Andrews Labor government will support these jobs and support these projects.