Tuesday, 29 July 2025

 Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for the Suburban Rail Loop, Minister for Housing and Building, Minister for Development Victoria and Precincts) (14:01): I rise today to update the house on Australia’s largest infrastructure and housing project, the Suburban Rail Loop. As Australia’s fastest growing city, Melbourne needs world-class public transport that will take thousands of cars off our roads and connect housing to jobs, services, education and health precincts. That is why on this side of the house we have got a plan to build for Victoria’s future by creating better homes, better connected communities and better transport.

Last month it was a delight to join the Premier and caucus colleagues to announce how the Suburban Rail Loop will slash travel times around Melbourne, transforming the way that people move, live and work across our great state and taking pressure off our outer-suburban growth areas at the same time. Whether it is Frankston, Footscray or Fawkner, the Suburban Rail Loop means faster and easier journeys, creating more time to do the things that you love and less time spent in traffic. Students from Laverton will be able to get to Deakin University in 60 minutes using the SRL compared to 79 minutes in the car. Glen Waverley residents will take just 22 minutes to visit friends and family in Caulfield, saving 17 minutes. On this side of the house we know Victoria is facing inevitable growth, and we must continue working to ensure we grow in the best possible way. We want Victorians like Sonny Ray Koch, born just yesterday, to be able to move more easily around the state, to get from school to work to university.

We also know that those opposite have no position on and no answers for these big challenges facing our state. They are happy to kick the tyres on a problem and come up with absolutely no solutions. Rather, the Leader of the Opposition sent Victorians a clear message when he said he will pause the Suburban Rail Loop. He said ‘You’re fired’ to the 4000 Victorian workers who will be earning a pay cheque as a direct result of this project. He said ‘You’re on your own’ to thousands of young Victorians looking to buy their first home, and he said very clearly that Victorians deserve to be stuck in traffic without access to world-class public transport infrastructure. While they spend every single day tearing each other apart over their position on this project, we are not wasting a day and we are getting on with the work that will transform our city for generations to come.