Wednesday, 15 October 2025
Questions without notice and ministers statements
Ministers statements: Metro Tunnel
Please do not quote
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Ministers statements: Metro Tunnel
Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:10): The millennials in my life tell me that last year was all about brat summer, but this year we have got something even better for Victorians, because from December to February it is free PT on weekends all summer right across Victoria, a summer of weekends where you can leave your Myki at home, where it will cost you nothing to get anywhere on any form of public transport across our state. We are doing this to mark the opening of the Metro Tunnel, with five brand new stations that will connect more Victorians to more places where they want to go – the biggest transformation of our rail network in more than 40 years, and it has been delivered a full year ahead of schedule. These five stations are going to change the way Victorians move around our city and state – stations that will connect young people to education opportunities and to jobs and also connect more Victorians to that very important health precinct around Parkville.
While Victorians are out and about this summer, getting on one of the hundreds of additional weekly services that are starting up with the Metro Tunnel, Victorians will well remember one important fact: the Metro Tunnel and those extra services would not be here if those opposite had their way. If those opposite had their way, there would be no Metro Tunnel, there would be no five new stations, there would not be a thousand extra services starting in February and there most certainly would not be free public transport every weekend for everyone across this state.
James Newbury: On a point of order, Speaker, it is not in order to sledge in a ministers statement.
The SPEAKER: The Premier was contrasting. Premier, come back to your statement.
Jacinta ALLAN: I will just quote something. I think it was a former Liberal Premier who described the Metro Tunnel as dividing Victoria like the Berlin Wall. They said it would be a disaster. They said it was a hoax. They said it would never happen. Well, it is here, and it is happening this summer.