Thursday, 4 December 2025

 Tim RICHARDSON (Mordialloc) (17:45): (1472) I rise to raise an adjournment for the Minister for Transport Infrastructure, and the action I seek is for the minister to outline for my community the progress of construction works on the Suburban Rail Loop and how they will be benefiting the Mordialloc electorate. Can I firstly, though, Speaker, thank you for your leadership and work in this Parliament. Too often you thank everyone else and you take a massive load on behalf of us and we love you to bits and the whole chamber does. And so for the year that you have had, we just send our best – and you are a superstar.

We saw on the weekend the most extraordinary event. I admit that I have not been out to Sunbury too often – it might surprise you that I have not been out that far – but I went out there in amazement at just how many people turned out for an intergenerational infrastructure project to open up. There are not many opportunities where you can see the best parts of how governments see projects through and get things done, and get to see the Melbourne Metro rail tunnel, first talked about decades ago, and to really realise that project and to see its completion, where we saw 70,000-plus Victorians gather to recognise this significant project and the benefits this will have in our city, which will be outstanding.

Like the Elizabeth line that took pressure off the tube, we see the city loop unscrambled, and for the Frankston train line to go back into the city loop on 1 February 2026 will be a massive contribution for our community. Increased services, turn up and go – that has only been possible with the removal of substantial amounts of level crossings – will make the Frankston train line level crossing free by 2029. The Melbourne Metro rail tunnel allows more services to run, but we know the housing and the transport outcomes that are so critical for Victorians are on projects like the Suburban Rail Loop. So it is as much a transport project as it is a housing project, because we want the kids of tomorrow, the millennials and the Gen Zs, that those opposite are opposed to building more houses for, get priced into the market, not priced out.

If you are living in the City of Kingston or the City of Greater Dandenong, we want you to be priced into your communities and be able to stay in the municipality that you have grown up in and loved and have thrived in. So this is all about what these intergenerational projects are – getting you home safer and sooner, building the housing that we need tomorrow and delivering really important outcomes for our city and our state. I cannot wait for the minister to write back to me and outline the benefits of the Suburban Rail Loop and the project construction to date.