Wednesday, 29 May 2024

Ministers statements: Suburban Rail Loop

Danny PEARSON (Essendon – Minister for Transport Infrastructure, Minister for the Suburban Rail Loop, Assistant Treasurer, Minister for WorkSafe and the TAC) (14:25): I rise to update the house on the government’s commitment to delivering the Suburban Rail Loop. We know that this project will radically change how we move around the city, how we work, how we study and how we add more homes. But the SRL is much, much more than a train line. It is one of the most transformational transport and housing projects anywhere in the country. Just as the Prime Minister said:

I can’t think of a more exciting infrastructure project in the entire nation …

That is why federal Labor backed this project with $2.2 billion. Let us be clear on this: the SRL is going to connect Victorians to jobs, retail, education, health services and each other. It will stimulate thousands of new homes around SRL precincts – 70,000 new homes for SRL East alone. And SRL East from Box Hill to Cheltenham is well underway. There are 1200 workers on the ground right now. By 2026 we will have 4000 Victorian workers hard at work, and trains will be running by 2035.

If you are against the SRL, you are against jobs, you are against transport connections, you are against housing and you are against public transport, and that is what is under threat from the Leader of the Opposition. One week he wants to scrap the SRL; the next week he wants to put it on pause. I just cannot keep up. Is he sacking 4000 workers, or are they going to be put in limbo? Let us be clear, when they talk about cancelling the SRL, this is what they are saying: they will sack 4000 workers, they will cancel 24,000 jobs, they will make it harder for thousands of Victorian workers to get an affordable home and they will ignore what Victorians have voted for twice. We have got a clear and decisive vision for Victoria’s future, while those opposite do not even know who will be taking them to the very next election.