Tuesday, 28 July 2026

 John LISTER (Werribee) (19:22): (1738) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Public and Active Transport, and the action I seek is a briefing on how our additional nine-carriage trains will increase capacity on the Wyndham Vale line. As many people know, I love a survey, and when I went out to communities in Wyndham Vale the response was clear: they wanted more capacity on their line. 1141 respondents said they wanted a chance to get a seat. Nearly just as many wanted less congestion on the platforms. And while I mention surveys, I would like to encourage residents to complete my survey on Werribee train station so we can capture how we use this place as well and how we can improve it.

I am a big fan of our V/Line. I often take it to get to and from here. I know what it feels like to get on that service at Southern Cross only to find it is a three-carriage service during peak times. That is why I fought hard and worked in government with my fellow Wyndham colleagues to secure funding for additional nine-carriage services during peak times. This is how I work. I listen to and survey a variety of views, work through the processes in government and deliver results. In a little over 12 months I have not only done this with capacity on the Wyndham Vale line but secured extensions of bus routes and upgrades to schools and a new high school and seen road projects completed sooner, law courts opened and hospital funding boosted. I have shown that not only do I fight for my community but I also deliver.

We can only really talk about getting additional VLocity carriages because Labor has had them built here in Victoria by Victorians. If it was up to those opposite, we would not get this for Wyndham Vale. When our regional rail link was finished, opening was delayed a year because the Liberals just neglected to order trains to run the services. I am a practical kind of guy. I have always wanted to find solutions to problems now, and while more work needs to be done on heavy rail connections in the south-west of Melbourne, I need to make sure my community can get a seat. Because the people of Manor Lakes, Mambourin and Wyndham Vale are also a practical lot, they see through the Liberals’ bewailing when an election rolls around again. And worse still, we heard, a few days after we announced additional carriages for Wyndham Vale, the member for Bulleen go on radio saying that he would take carriages from Melton and Wyndham Vale services, leaving our lines a bit thin. This briefing will help me communicate to those passengers on the line how we can get real help right now for our commuters. Our increase to train capacity for Wyndham Vale will deliver that real help sooner rather than later.