Koondrook bus services
Mr WALSH (Murray Plains) (09:38): I raise the concerns of the residents of Koondrook about the lack of public transport for the town. There is no bus service from Koondrook to the major service centres of Kerang, Swan Hill or Echuca. There is a bus service that links Swan Hill, Kerang and Echuca, but it does not divert through Koondrook, which would not take much to do. The only bus service for Koondrook is a 7.00 am bus that goes to Melbourne. If a Koondrook resident wants to go to Echuca for a medical appointment, they have to catch that 7.00 am bus, get off at Rochester at 8.44 am, wait 45 minutes to catch the Melbourne to Echuca bus for another 30-minute trip to get to Echuca for their medical appointment. Then to get home they have to do that reverse trip, which is equally as long. So it is 3 hours to get there and 3 hours to get home, which would be only an hour each way if there was a direct bus service that diverted through Koondrook that could go to Echuca.
Koondrook is one of our country’s growing communities. There are a lot of new houses being built in Koondrook. The amenities of the town are first class. They just need a decent public transport link to ensure that residents can get to appointments and not have to spend hours travelling over that time. Having one of the bus services that currently goes from Swan Hill through Kerang to Echuca divert through Koondrook would help solve that problem for the residents.