Tuesday, 2 August 2022

 Mr QUILTY (Northern Victoria) (20:06): (2030) My adjournment matter tonight is for the minister for transport. The new trains for the north-east line are, from all accounts, poised and waiting to run in a month or so’s time when the track is fixed and the old N-class carriages have made their last runs to the border. But wait—are the N-class sets really done? We have another standard gauge line in north-west Victoria crying out for a train service; Mildura and the other towns on the Mildura line still wait for a train 29 years after services were cancelled.

We know from past questions that the government is really strongly opposed to passenger trains on the Mildura line—passionately opposed. I sometimes wonder if senior government members somehow suffered childhood trauma caused by Mildura trains. I am left wondering if the real issue with bringing back train services is an attempt by this government to palm off the Mildura line onto the Australian Rail Track Corporation, who do not want any passenger services cluttering up their freight lines.

We need to put aside the standard gauge carriages and locomotives from the north-east line for possible future use on the north-west lines. We know the Parliamentary Budget Office has said the Mildura train service can run as revenue positive rather than loss making. We should look at all the alternatives for running the trains. Perhaps the future Mildura rail service will not be provided by V/Line; perhaps instead a community based and funded company staffed with local train crews and not subject to public service restrictions will be able to fund and operate the rail service at a profit. Whatever the model, Mildura and the north-west need a passenger rail service, and we should not close the door on delivering this cheaply with the N-class standard gauge train sets from the north-east line.

Minister, the action I seek is for you to not dispose of the old N-class cars and engines in the coming months but instead mothball them for a future Mildura service. We can look at how to deliver that service going forward, but it is crucial that we do not slam the door shut. We need to keep future options on the table.