Thursday, 5 February 2026

 Richard RIORDAN (Polwarth) (10:02): I just want to bring to the house’s attention and to my Melbourne colleagues’ attention that I had an opportunity to tour the $15 billion Metro rail. For the benefit of my own constituents in Polwarth, I just thought I would make the observation that when I toured this $15 billion project that is five years overdue and $5 billion over budget, I went to the Arden station. And at the Arden station in the middle of the day, there were no travellers. No-one got on the train, no-one got off the train. There were more cleaning staff. There is even a police station. There were unfulfilled cafe services. And the beauty of this station, this $15 billion project station, is you come up the escalators, and you come to a grass paddock, a paddock that has got slashers cutting long grass. No-one to be seen, no-one on the footpaths, no-one in the streets, but this wonderful station – in stark contrast to what the people of Colac get and the people on the Warrnambool line. We have half the amount of seats going to Melbourne on our trains these days, with the underfunded small trains that the government has provided. We have the Colac train station, with pillars up and warning signs advising consumers and travellers to keep away from collapsing chimneys. We have got the safety markers on the platform completely disintegrated, no safety barriers left, gardens overgrown, a complete and utter mess and trains that are packed trip after trip after trip.