Thursday, 18 August 2022

Ministers statements: Suburban Rail Loop

Ms THOMAS (Macedon—Minister for Health, Minister for Ambulance Services) (14:25): I rise today to inform the house on how the Suburban Rail Loop will connect more Victorians to our world-class hospitals and health services. Victorians should not be forced to choose between a strong healthcare system or a public transport system, and indeed under our government they do not have to. That is what our government is delivering right now, from the more than $12 billion we have invested in public health infrastructure—

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Polwarth is warned.

Ms THOMAS: to this multigenerational transport reform and indeed the Metro Tunnel, which is going to unlock the entire Parkville precinct to all Victorians.

We know that the Suburban Rail Loop will enable Victorians to travel by train to health services like the Monash Medical Centre, like Box Hill Hospital, like the Monash Children’s Hospital and the Victorian Heart Hospital. Indeed, Victorians travelling from Traralgon will be able to get to Box Hill Hospital 26 minutes faster by train than by car. Those opposite do not support this investment, and it makes a complete mockery of a pledge they made the other day. On the one hand: ‘We’re going to offer free public transport to healthcare workers’—

The SPEAKER: The member for Eildon is warned.

Ms THOMAS: and on the other: ‘We’re going to stop funding to a vital public transport infrastructure initiative’. It makes no sense, no sense whatsoever. They are all over the place when it comes to priorities. This government knows we can walk and chew gum at the same time. We can build world-leading transport infrastructure, we can build a world-leading healthcare service, we can build schools and we can create jobs.