Suburban Rail Loop
John PESUTTO (Hawthorn – Leader of the Opposition) (14:16): My question is to the Premier. The Grattan Institute says that the Suburban Rail Loop was dreamed up in secret prior to the 2018 election, was never recommended by Infrastructure Victoria and was announced without any consultation with the Department of Transport, Infrastructure Australia or even state cabinet. Will the Premier come clean with Victorians and explain why there was not a business case for the Suburban Rail Loop?
Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:17): I am feeling a little bit like I am driving the DeLorean in Back to the Future. We have had this discussion more than once before, but I am delighted to do it again. I remind the Leader of the Opposition that the Suburban Rail Loop is a project that Victorians have voted for not once but twice. Where is that member for Glen Waverley? There he is. The member for Glen Waverley knows all about the Suburban Rail Loop. The member for Ashwood knows all about the Suburban Rail Loop. I will stop there, lest we go around the alignment. But the reason why the member for Ashwood, the member for Glen Waverley and so many of our other colleagues support the Suburban Rail Loop, alongside the Victorian community, is because they know it is the infrastructure that is going to support those communities. If you are a young person wanting to pursue the course you dream of at Box Hill TAFE, Monash University or Deakin University, you will get there much more easily when the Suburban Rail Loop is built. Melbourne is the fastest growing city in the country, and the fastest growing city in the country cannot stand still when it comes to delivering the productive infrastructure our city and state need. That is why the Suburban Rail Loop is important.
There is also in the Leader of the Opposition’s –
Members interjecting.
The SPEAKER: Before I call the point of order, I am hearing members yelling out across the chamber and calling members by their first names. That is inappropriate. Members are to be referred to by their correct titles.
James Newbury: On a point of order, Speaker, standing order 58 does require the answer to be direct. The question was: would the Premier explain why there was not a business case for the Suburban Rail Loop? I would ask you to ask the Premier to be direct on that question.
The SPEAKER: Order! The Premier was being relevant to the question that was asked. As I have reminded members on many occasions, I cannot tell the minister or the Premier how to answer a question.
Jacinta ALLAN: I am delighted to respond, through the answer to this question, to the member for Brighton’s point of order, because he may have missed that point in time in August 2021 when we released the business and investment case for the Suburban Rail Loop. We have released the business and investment case for the Suburban Rail Loop. It has been publicly available for more than two years now, and in that period of time we have got on with the delivery of this project. Victorians also in-between times voted for the Suburban Rail Loop at the 2022 election, and there are now hundreds and hundreds of people working on this project. I was recently in Burwood with the member for Ashwood at what will be one of the tunnel-boring launch sites, where work is underway to deliver the next transport infrastructure project our growing city and state needs.
John PESUTTO (Hawthorn – Leader of the Opposition) (14:20): The cost of the Suburban Rail Loop has blown out to $125 billion for just its first two stages: will the Premier come clean with Victorians and call a halt to the Suburban Rail Loop so that an urgent independent review can be completed to assess the real cost and its claimed benefits?
Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:21): We know that when those opposite talk about independent review, it is code for cutting projects, because we have seen this before. I can say to the Leader of the Opposition that we will not be cutting a project that Victorians have voted for twice, because it is a vitally important project. It is about providing better transport connections, being able to create, in the instance of Suburban Rail Loop East, the opportunity to travel from Cheltenham to Box Hill in 22 minutes. It is also about making sure that there is better and more direct access to TAFEs, to universities, to jobs and services, and the chance for more people to live closer to train stations that make it easier for people to get around. So, no, Leader of the Opposition, we will not be stopping the progress on the Suburban Rail Loop.