Thursday, 30 July 2026

 John PESUTTO (Hawthorn) (17:27): (1757) My adjournment matter tonight is for the Minister for Public and Active Transport, and the action I seek is that the minister develop a strategy to improve accessibility across Victoria’s public transport network, with a particular focus on ensuring that families travelling with young children can use trains and trams safely and independently. Recently I was contacted by Astrid, a constituent who has recently moved to Hawthorn with her young family. She spoke warmly of her new neighbourhood and of the opportunities it offers to walk to local shops, parks and cafes and to use public transport to visit family and friends throughout Melbourne. Like many young families choosing to live in Hawthorn and the surrounding suburbs, Astrid wants to leave the car at home whenever possible. Public transport should make that easy. Unfortunately, the reality of navigating our network with two children under two in a double pram is harder than it should be.

Along Glenferrie Road in Hawthorn there are no accessible tram stops. At nearby railway stations there are often significant gaps between the train and the platform. Simply boarding or leaving a train becomes an exercise in planning, balancing a double pram and hoping that somebody nearby is willing to help. Astrid told me that she regularly relies on the kindness of strangers to lift her pram on and off public transport. While she is grateful for that assistance, she rightly points out that it should not be a prerequisite for using Victoria’s public transport network. What I found most compelling, however, was her observation that she is an able-bodied person and that if she finds using public transport difficult while travelling with two young children, how much harder must it be for older Victorians, people living with a disability, those with mobility impairments or anyone using a wheelchair?

Public transport patronage continues to grow, particularly in established inner suburban communities such as Hawthorn, where many families deliberately choose to live because of their access to trains and trams. If we genuinely want to encourage more people to leave the car at home, our network must be updated to accommodate the realities of modern family life. Across my electorate there remain a number of older railway stations and tram stops that simply do not meet contemporary expectations of accessibility. While progress has been made in some locations, too many barriers remain for parents with prams, grandparents caring for young children and others whose mobility may be limited.

Making our public transport system more family friendly is not simply about convenience. It encourages greater public transport use, supports more livable communities and ensures that parents are not discouraged from travelling simply because they have young children. Accordingly, I ask the minister to develop a comprehensive strategy to identify and prioritise upgrades at older stations and tram stops so that parents, carers and all Victorians can travel safely, independently and with dignity.