Tuesday, 20 May 2025

Public transport fares

Nina TAYLOR (Albert Park) (14:24): I have to say this budget is certainly listening to the voices of students and the parents behind them. About a year ago I worked in with Albert Park College. There were some students there that wanted to do a project whereby they would come up with a topic and then I would help them in terms of their advocacy to Parliament, but it was all their work. Guess what they came up with: they came up with making public transport free for students – oh my goodness – and it has come true. I want to thank them for their important advocacy. Do you know why they wanted to do it? Because they thought it was fair – it did not matter what your background was; everyone got the same opportunity in terms of access to public transport – but also because it would encourage more people to use public transport. So this is a salute to them, but also, can I say, to the government returning the favour and actually making public transport free for every Victorian under 18 from 1 ‍January 2026. This will on average save families up to $755 a year. If you have got multiple children, you can imagine the maths on that as well. So this is really a salute to them and a salute to this budget delivery.