Thursday, 8 February 2024

 Anthony CIANFLONE (Pascoe Vale) (17:11): (512) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Public and Active Transport, and the action I seek is for the minister to visit my electorate to see firsthand the record investments the Victorian Labor government has made since 2014 to upgrade local transport infrastructure and services and to meet with local transport workers and commuters to discuss future opportunities for improvement.

As I said in my first speech, I am a very firm believer that all local residents should be afforded access to sustainable and safe transport options. Indeed I am proud to represent the a Merri-bek community that has some of the highest rates of public and active transport take-up in the state when it comes to commuting to work, with a reported 14 per cent of local residents who catch a train, 14 per cent who catch a tram, 7 per cent who ride bikes, 3 per cent who catch a bus and 3 per cent who walk. As an inner-city electorate that covers the suburbs of Pascoe Vale, Coburg and Brunswick West, we are very fortunate indeed to have access to a number of strategic and local transport corridors that help safely connect people to jobs, learning, health and community precincts and encourage this take-up, including through two metropolitan train lines, the Upfield and the Craigieburn lines, and three tram lines in the form of route 1 along Nicholson Street in East Coburg, route 19 along Sydney Road in Coburg, and route 58 through West Brunswick and West Coburg along Melville Road. In terms of buses, we are fortunate to be serviced by a number of north–south and east–west routes, and in terms of active transport, cycling and pedestrian infrastructure, we are also very fortunate to be serviced by several corridors of either state or local significance.

Since 2014 we have continued to invest and take real action to help improve these and other local transport services and corridors, including the construction of the Metro rail tunnel, which once operational will provide for increased capacity and services on the Upfield and Craigieburn lines; the landmark Upfield level crossing removal project through Coburg, which has removed four crossings at Moreland Road, Munro Street, Reynard Street and Bell Street, accompanied by a world-class active transport, cycling and walking corridor; better trams and improved tram services along our local corridors, including through the introduction of accessible and low-floor trams and improved night-time services; the introduction of zero-emissions buses along our routes and the commissioning of the northern suburbs bus review to consider future opportunities; investing $11.9 million to install traffic lights and remove the dangerous roundabout at the corner of Gaffney Street and Sussex Street in Coburg North; and investing $4.6 million towards delivering the Coburg to Glenroy cycling link and a further $3.7 million to improve the Upfield shared path so it connects all the way up to the M80 Western Ring Road. We have also committed recently $2.4 million to improve road safety for vulnerable road users along the Gaffney Street, Landells Road and Essex Street corridors.

In this respect, however, there is always more to do. I draw the minister’s attention to the number of local road safety and public and active transport matters that I have written to her about and which I welcome her attention on. I would also draw the minister’s attention to the work of the parliamentary inquiry into vulnerable road user safety post COVID-19, which I was very pleased to have welcomed to Merri-bek for a particular specific hearing. I would welcome the minister to meet with local transport workers, including at the Moreland tram depot and local bus drivers, many of whom are Transport Workers’ Union members, and further consider these and other local opportunities with commuters also. I welcome the minister’s response so I can share it with my very passionate and active community when it comes to public and active transport matters.