Tuesday, 8 March 2022

Northern Victoria Region

Mr QUILTY (Northern Victoria) (12:21): (1669) My constituency question is for the minister for transport. I have asked over 20 questions on rail since being elected here. I have been inundated with concerned members from north-east Victoria wanting trains to stop at Sunshine station so they can transfer to the airport. There is a feeling of utter disbelief that north-east Victorians have yet again been ignored when it comes to this government’s management of the north-east rail line. The government has said that north-eastern Victorians do not need or want the same opportunity to hop onto a train at home and go all the way to the airport as other regional Victorians have been promised. It is not true. The government claims there is no space to rebuild the standard gauge platform, but it could go back where the old platform was with only minimal changes, or if rebuilding a platform is too difficult, you could dual gauge one or more platforms at Sunshine as we already have at Southern Cross. Minister, will you intervene to build either a new standard gauge platform at Sunshine or a dual gauge existing platform? North-eastern Victorians deserve the same access as all other regional Victorians.