Thursday, 31 July 2025

 John BERGER (Southern Metropolitan) (18:00): (1789) My adjournment is for the Minister for the Suburban Rail Loop, Minister Shing. As Australia’s fastest growing city, Melbourne needs world-class public transport that will ensure households spend less time on the road and more time with the people that they love. The Suburban Rail Loop will not only transform our public transport network; as Australia’s largest housing project it will deliver thousands more homes and housing choice around the new SRL East stations, allowing for more people to find a home closer to where they grew up. Four of the six SRL East stations are in Southern Metropolitan Region – Cheltenham, Clayton, Monash and Burwood. It is the Allan Labor government that will deliver a direct train service for the very first time at Deakin and Monash universities, helping tens of thousands of staff and students access those campuses daily, because Victorians deserve to have better access and more opportunities.

Having a direct line to Monash University will connect students, workers and visitors to Melbourne’s largest employment and innovation hub outside the CBD. The area around the new SRL East station at Monash will include a new town centre, becoming a vibrant and thriving destination with new retail, cafes and restaurants and accommodation for visiting staff, students and their families to stay close to the university and other world-leading research and medical facilities. The SRL will make it quicker to travel orbitally around the south-eastern and eastern suburbs, with services every 6 minutes during peak hours and every 10 minutes off peak. This means households can access key employment, education and innovation hubs like Monash easier and quicker, saving time navigating multiple modes of transport. The action that I seek is for the minister to provide me with more information on how much time students, workers and families will save travelling to and through the Southern Metropolitan Region.