Tuesday, 3 March 2026

 Alison MARCHANT (Bellarine) (13:49): Today is a very exciting day for the Bellarine as we have our Bellarine bus review now open from this morning. Over the next six weeks the residents of the Bellarine will be able to share their experiences and ideas through an online community consultation and/or at some pop-ups across the Bellarine to help shape and have more efficient and more accessible public transport for our region. The review will explore how buses and services can better reflect our changing travel patterns, support our growing suburbs and provide better connections between our towns, schools, shopping precincts and workplaces. This review delivers on the funding that we secured in the 2025–26 budget, strengthening our public transport, and it does build on the introduction of those initiatives such as free transport for under-18s and free weekend travel for seniors, carers and disability support pension recipients. While these public transport initiatives are really important to help families with the cost of living, I encourage everyone to jump across onto the website to have their say and share what a better Bellarine bus service would look like.