Tuesday, 20 May 2025

Public transport

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.