Wednesday, 30 July 2025

Ministers statements: Metro Tunnel

Gabrielle WILLIAMS (Dandenong – Minister for Transport Infrastructure, Minister for Public and Active Transport) (14:34): I rise to update the house on just a few of the many reasons it is so very easy to talk up the great state of Victoria. On Sunday the Premier and I headed down to the newly renovated Campbell Arcade to announce that it will be reopening to the community this week. The Minister for Tourism and Sport will be pleased to know that Degraves Street was pumping following the rugby earlier that weekend. The arcade, people may know, was first opened in 1955 in the lead-up to the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games, and since 2022 we have been restoring this pink-faced beauty, replacing the ceiling, upgrading the lighting and preserving those heritage features that make the arcade so very iconic – the pink-tiled shopfronts and of course those beautiful curved walls as well. This work was made possible because of the Metro Tunnel project. Campbell Arcade will be a key access point for those travelling into and out of Melbourne, connecting Flinders Street to the brand new Town Hall station.

You cannot talk up how great Victoria is at the moment without talking about the Metro Tunnel project. It will open later this year. It will take the three busiest lines out of the city loop, freeing up capacity for more services right across our rail network – a futureproofing project that those opposite cut because they were always too busy looking in the rear-view mirror. Not only did they cut the Metro Tunnel when they had a chance to build it, but earlier this year they also opposed the extra services that it enables. On this side of the house we have spent the last decade investing in rail projects and making our state better, so far removing 87 level crossings and upgrading every regional rail line. Building for the future takes courage and vision, and we have that on this side of the chamber in spades. The Liberals cut and closed, and they short-changed Victoria when they could have been investing every single day at every single opportunity. You cannot trust them.