Ministers statements: Suburban Rail Loop
Mr ANDREWS (Mulgrave—Premier) (14:06): I am delighted to rise to update the house on one of the most important and significant public transport projects in our nation’s history. Of course I speak of the Suburban Rail Loop, a project that was supported by the Victorian community before the election back in 2018, a very, very important project, one that is all about jobs, one that is all about getting people where they want to go, getting cars off the road, cutting emissions and making sure that a world-class city—and state—has a world-class public transport system. I know that my good friends the member for Mordialloc, the member for Clarinda, the member for Bentleigh, the member for Oakleigh, the member for Mount Waverley, the member for Burwood, the member for Box Hill and so many others—in fact everyone on this side of the house—and their communities are very, very pleased to think that we are getting on and delivering this project. And we do it in the full and certain knowledge that whilst we are starting this project, it is of such a scale someone else will open it and someone else will finish it. That is what leadership looks like—actually building things that are important today, and every day that goes by they become more important. I tell you something else: they also get more expensive if you were to put them off, for instance. You need to get on if you are the government of this state. You need to get on and do road and rail, hospitals and schools, skills and jobs. You need to do more than one thing at a time. That, it would seem, is beyond the capability of some.