Thursday, 20 September 2018

 Ms ALLAN (Bendigo East—Leader of the House, Minister for Major Projects, Minister for Public Transport) (17:26): I will, in the spirit of the day that we have had — if I can also on indulgence — just make a few brief acknowledgements. Please do not mistake it: the brevity is not in proportion to the appreciation I feel for the people I am about to acknowledge. We have heard a number of times today, and I think it is terrific, how the parliamentary staff have been repeatedly acknowledged. I add my voice to those acknowledgements. They are a terrific group of people across all the different departments. Thank you for the great work you do in supporting us.

I will also give a shout-out to our clerks. I acknowledge Bridget in her historic position; I know Ray was very proud to hand over the mantle to you. To you, Speaker: thank you for the work you have done over the past couple of years guiding us through the slings and arrows of question time and other parts of the parliamentary day. Thank you for the work that we have been able to do with you.

I would also like to thank my whip, who I have already spoken to but she has had to depart. I have had two whips in this term of the Parliament: the member for Yuroke and the member for Thomastown. They are both wonderful women to work with, great Labor women, and I have enjoyed working with them enormously. I thank them for putting up with me during that period of time.

I thank the manager of opposition business. I have had the opportunity to say some words privately to the member for Box Hill, but I would like to say them publicly as well. I really appreciate the way that he and I have been able to have a respectful and quite open relationship — maybe not as open as the members for Rowville and Nepean, as we heard before, I want to make that very clear. We have had a very respectful relationship in terms of understanding that we both have a set of responsibilities to our parties in the roles that we have but we also have a responsibility to the Parliament and to the chamber to make sure it does operate in a smooth way. I will also acknowledge that the manager of opposition business has from time to time helped me do my job by picking up on some little slips and trips I might have had along the way. But I will perhaps never forgive him for calling on the ABC motion a few months ago; that was a cunning move from someone who has been here a while. I do genuinely, though, appreciate the member for Box Hill’s support, and I wish him all the best over the months ahead.

I thank my office. I do not know if they are watching. They might be or they might be doing some other entertaining things. I thank them for the tremendous support they have given me and also my caucus colleagues. I have got a great team. They are a fantastic team. I think, as some of my colleagues have said, they make you look good, and that is certainly true for my team.

I thank my wonderful caucus, who have supported me in this role, particularly my government business program team. I think they have mostly been boys. My government business program boys: you have been great to help me out. It does mean a lot standing here to know that you have got the support of your team behind you.

To everyone in this chamber: I wish everyone well. We will all be doing a lot of driving, a lot of travelling and a lot of campaigning over the weeks ahead, and I really do wish for everyone to do that as safely as they possibly can. Take good care of yourselves and take good care of your families, because ultimately that is the most important thing in our lives.

Having said that let us get back to battle. The member for Yan Yean has raised with me —

Honourable members interjecting.

Ms ALLAN: No, I do not want my reputation to slip. The member for Yan Yean has raised with me the desire to gain some assurances around the delivery of the Hurstbridge line upgrade stage 2. Of course as the member for Yan Yean knows, you can only have stage 2 of the Hurstbridge line upgrade because the Labor government has already delivered stage 1 of the Hurstbridge line upgrade. This is now a key election commitment that we have made to the communities along the Hurstbridge rail corridor.

This is a big project. It involves new stations at Greensborough, Speaker, which I think you might be quite interested in as well, and track duplication in a number of places. This is all about enabling us, at the end of this project, to run more trains more often. That is important for the growing communities in Melbourne’s north. The member for Yan Yean mentioned the Mernda rail project. We have got runs on the board with that, and we want to continue that with Hurstbridge.

I also want to give the member for Yan Yean and her local community very clear assurances around our protections for the Eltham trestle bridge. This is the last remaining timber bridge on Melbourne’s electric train network. It is much loved in the local community, and its preservation is being strongly fought for and advocated for because it is very much part of the local area’s character. Only Labor will deliver the Hurstbridge line duplication, protect the Eltham trestle bridge and not wreak further havoc on the local community, unlike those opposite, who have an alternative proposal in the marketplace that is undercooked and underfunded and which would not provide those protections. I hope that provides the member for Yan Yean with what she was looking for — the thumbs up — and I wish her all the best in the weeks ahead.

The member for Frankston has asked me to come and visit Frankston and talk about car parks, if I remember correctly. I am very pleased to accept that invitation from the member for Frankston because not only will we be talking about car parks but we will be talking about the $2 billion of investment that we are making on the Frankston line in removing level crossings and building a beautiful new station at Frankston. I cannot wait to see the progress. I did a bit of a walk-around during the last school holidays when I was in the area. I look forward to doing that again next week when I am in the area again.

Can I thank the member for Frankston — and the member for Yan Yean, but I am on the member for Frankston at the moment. You are a terrific advocate for your local community. You work damn hard in your local community. You should be proud of what you have achieved to date, and we look forward to there being more to come into the future. We will see you next week, and then next year.

With those words, eight other matters were raised by honourable members for the attention of ministers. I will refer those matters to them for their action and attention. As I said before, I wish everyone all the very best for the weeks ahead.

The SPEAKER: The house now stands adjourned.

House adjourned 5.33 p.m.