Thursday, 14 November 2024

 Matthew GUY (Bulleen) (09:46): I rise to raise issues in relation to country rail services under this Labor government across Victoria, particularly on the lines to Bairnsdale, Albury, Shepparton, Swan Hill and Warrnambool. The Labor government has decided to remove the diesel-hauled services – understandably, they are at the end of their line – and replace them with VLocitys. VLocity railcars were never made to travel beyond 160 kilometres out of Melbourne. They are now being put into service up to 4 hours from Melbourne.

The issues for country Victorians are not just that they are travelling on trains that do not have reclining seats, do not have sunshades and do not have a buffet; it is now the fact that when they do run – and many of them are now bus replacements – the Victorian government is treating country passengers the worst of any government in Australia in the sense that the quality of the VLocity trains is the worst of any long-haul service in Australia. The Western Australian government is replacing the Australind service to Bunbury with brand new country trains with reclining seats, buffet services and sunshades, as you would expect for a long-haul service, as is the New South Wales government in replacing the XPTs and the XPLORER trains right now, as has the Queensland government, which has just put in new interurban electric trains up the coastline to Rockhampton. But no, in Victoria the Labor government treats country passengers with disrespect and puts in place a vehicle, the VLocity, that should never and is not designed to travel further than Traralgon. That is why Labor treats country with disrespect.