Wednesday, 18 June 2025

 Nicole WERNER (Warrandyte) (19:17): (1199) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Public and Active Transport. The action I seek is for the government to improve public transport in the Warrandyte electorate by reviewing and expanding local bus services. The only public transport available in my electorate is bus services, yet across many suburbs those services are limited, unreliable and in some areas non-existent. For example, Park Orchards is in the centre of my electorate, and if someone wants to drive from Park Orchards to shop local in Warrandyte, it is a 7-minute drive. However, the same trip by bus takes 10 times longer than that – over 70 minutes. Alternatively, if they went to Wonga Park, it is an 11-minute drive but nearly an hour and a half on public transport. It should not be that suburbs so close to one another are completely disconnected. For local resident Kim Coulson, who lives near Tindals Road in Warrandyte, the closest bus stop is a dangerous 50-minute walk along a 70-kilometre-per-hour road with no footpath. The Department of Transport and Planning previously said that their review had not identified a need for more bus services, but I am concerned that this assessment may be based on data that does not reflect reality. Ms Coulson recently caught a city-bound bus, which she had to drive to, and observed that by the freeway stop the bus was over capacity with standing room only. Yet she estimates fewer than 20 per cent of passengers had tapped on. If demand is being measured by tap-on data alone, then we would be undercounting usage and falsely justifying a lack of bus services for an area that really needs it.

But this is not the only example of Warrandyte’s lack of local public transport. In North Warrandyte schoolchildren are being left without enough public school buses simply because they attend an independent school. Parents have repeatedly raised concerns about the overcrowded school bus service to Luther College. Local mum Crystal Stephens said her daughters often cannot board at Warrandyte Bridge because the bus is full, leaving them stranded with no way of getting to school. Despite years of advocacy through Public Transport Victoria, local councils and the school, the issue remains unresolved. Yet when this issue was raised with the minister, the response said that because these students do not attend their zoned government school, the department has no intention of providing additional support. So the message to parents of kids at independent schools seems to be, ‘Go to a government school or we’re not interested in helping you.’

Nearly 4000 students attend non-government schools in my electorate. How is it fair that these students’ needs are to be ignored when it comes to accessing public transport simply because of the school they attend? Families in Warrandyte and surrounding suburbs deserve safe, reliable and fair access to public transport, and I urge the minister to take action to improve services in our community.