Wednesday, 3 June 2026

 Ellen SANDELL (Melbourne) (10:03): Let us play a game of spot the difference between the states. In Queensland public transport costs 50 cents. In Tasmania public transport is free until the end of the year. But in Victoria on Monday free public transport ended and fares have been put back up. Of course only the public has to pay for public transport now; politicians still have a special free Myki for free public transport trips year-round. But free public transport should be for everyone. It is great for people’s budget; it is great for transport emissions, bringing them down; and it takes pressure off traffic for people who still need to drive. In fact when public transport was free for all Victorians, daily trips increased by 20 per cent.

Things only seem impossible until all of a sudden they are not. All it really took was switching the Myki readers off. The problem is Labor chose to switch them back on. The Greens know that we could switch them off and leave them off for good if we made the big corporations, the big banks, the big gambling companies, the big fossil fuel giants pay their fair share of tax. Then we could put that money into the things that we all need to live a decent life: free public transport, more buses, more train services, more renewable energy, more public housing. We could have these things if Labor had the guts to make the decisions that benefit Victorians.