Tuesday, 29 July 2025
Adjournment
Suburban Rail Loop
Please do not quote
Proof only
Suburban Rail Loop
Tim RICHARDSON (Mordialloc) (19:23): (1220) My adjournment this evening is to the Minister for the Suburban Rail Loop, and the action I seek from the minister is to update my community, the Mordialloc district, on the travel benefits of the Suburban Rail Loop that was recently announced.
This is a really critical part of thinking about the vision forward for the City of Kingston and the City of Greater Dandenong. It was a Labor government, the Andrews government, that committed to removing 50 level crossings in our community and put forward that vision. At the time, we were told it was not possible, and we are now on the edge of delivering 110 level crossing removals and having the Frankston train line level crossing free. We have already achieved that on the Dandenong line, and we have seen the substantial benefits. We saw the upgrade to the Mordialloc Freeway, which was talked about for decades and delivered by this Labor government, planning for the vision of how our communities get around on trains, on buses, on roads and as pedestrians. The Mordialloc Freeway, opened in 2021, has been an outstanding project.
We have the Parkdale level crossing removals that were delivered just recently, and there was a great celebration in May of 2025. We are on the edge of some enabling works that get ready for the Mordialloc level crossing removals, making Mordialloc level crossing free, a vision that we took to the people in 2022 and was resoundingly endorsed. We still have Aspendale level crossings to remove, and we are on the edge of the significant Metro rail tunnel opening later this year, which will transform the Frankston train line for generations to come, taking the Frankston train line back into the city loop, adding extra capacity and services into the future.
But if we really want to be innovative, we need to plan for the next generation.
The Andrews government at the time was chastised by the opposition for thinking that the Metro Tunnel would be a game changer – now everyone in this Parliament supports this project. The majority of Victorians support the Suburban Rail Loop. Those opposite have had six different policies around what they think about that project but never an alternative to what will be the travel savings and time savings and how we get people home safer and sooner. They oppose everything and deliver nothing, and we see this time and time again. They are opposed to the Suburban Rail Loop, which will deliver huge travel time savings for the Mordialloc district and the City of Kingston; they are completely opposed to this project and want to put more impact on travel safety and more risk of being on the roads for longer travel commute times onto my community. That is the plan. The alternative is an Allan Labor government delivering the absolute intergenerational projects for the future, and this project is so critical to getting people to where they need to be. Just remember that: Metro Tunnel will be delivered this year – that is an amazing game-changing project for our city; the Frankston train line is level crossing free under a Labor government; the Mordialloc Freeway delivered substantial travel timesaving benefits; and it is only a Labor government that will deliver the Suburban Rail Loop and transform our city for the future.