Thursday, 16 October 2025

 Sarah CONNOLLY (Laverton) (17:28): (1355) My adjournment is for the Minister for Transport Infrastructure, and the action I seek is that the minister update me on the early works currently being done on our Sunshine superhub. As the minister knows, it has been more than six months since both state and federal governments committed $2 billion each to completely transform Sunshine station into a huge transport interchange, the biggest this side of the Yarra. I am not exaggerating when I say what we are doing here at Sunshine is the key to unlocking rail in Melbourne’s west. We are talking about more than 40 trains an hour being able to travel through Sunshine station, including our new Metro Tunnel services, which I am so excited to hear are going to commence operation in early December. It is the first stage of works on the Melbourne Airport rail project. It will connect Victoria’s rail network to the airport for the first time and provide an interchange for up to 70 per cent of Victoria’s regional rail services. While I am at it, let us dispel a myth: you will not have to change trains at Sunshine to catch a train to and from the airport, people, because the airport trains will travel to and from the city via the Metro Tunnel.

But even more important for folks in the west is that these superhub works are the important first step to enabling electrification out to Melton and Wyndham Vale, something I know folks in my electorate are eager to see and have long awaited, because we need to separate those future metro services from the regional rail services that currently go out to Ballarat, Geelong and beyond, which is why the superhub will create two new platforms and an additional 6 kilometres of new rail track to help make all of this possible. It is not just a lick of paint and it is not just about a station, which is why I know my community would greatly welcome an update on how early works are progressing so that they can join us on this really important journey and on the next stage of transforming our rail network in Melbourne’s west.