Thursday, 19 February 2026

 Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:10): If you go and talk to any family in any suburb or any regional centre, they will tell you the same thing: that the cost of living is real for them and their household. It is the grocery bill, it is the mortgage and it is the power bill, but it is also about something beyond these bills. It is about time – time stuck in traffic, time juggling appointments, time stuck in long commutes, time that is taking them away from their family. It is why our Labor government is determined to support families and to make life easier, safer and more affordable for them. That is why we do not just build big projects that change this state; we build the ones too that change daily life.

Let us start with the Metro Tunnel, which on the very day it opened was called a waste by the Leader of the Liberal Party. She called the investment in the Metro Tunnel a waste. I remind the Liberal leader that that investment means nurses get to work more quickly, more directly, and students from the outer suburbs, particularly from those government schools, get from the outer suburbs into the universities and into health precincts sooner and easier. It means when you travel through the West Gate Tunnel you are getting home sooner and safer and with less time stuck in traffic. Then of course there are the new Footscray Hospital and the new Frankston hospital, which mean there is care closer to home for working people in these communities and mean they do not have to make as many trips across town to get the health care they need – less stress and more time with their families. Then of course, when it comes to delivering more health care and access, there is the free virtual emergency department and chemist care. Then there is free kinder and free TAFE. We will continue this focus on supporting working people and their families, and that is the difference: those who cut and those who back families.