Thursday, 28 August 2025

Responses

Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for the Suburban Rail Loop, Minister for Housing and Building, Minister for Development Victoria and Precincts) (23:58): This evening there have been 18 matters on the adjournment directed to a range of ministers. Save for the ones which I am about to address, they will be referred to the relevant ministers for a response in accordance with the standing orders.

Unfortunately, Mr Welch has disappeared from the chamber, but I would like to take this opportunity to address the matters that he has raised in respect of the Heatherton stabling facility. Just to be really, really clear, the Suburban Rail Loop Authority continues to have ongoing engagement with residents who are living in and around the area where the Heatherton stabling facility is located and where those major works and construction are occurring. As part of the ongoing engagement with the community, the Suburban Rail Loop Authority has been working really closely with residents to understand the impact of those construction works on them. Understanding those impacts includes a range of different factors at play. With any large-scale construction and with any disruption, there is change that has an impact on the way in which people move around and the way in which people live, and I do not discount the impact of change for a second. We know, for example, that when we remove level crossings, and we are up to 86 level crossings having been removed now, that there is an impact, particularly in built-up areas where we have large-scale construction. We know with the Melbourne Metro Tunnel, for example, that there have been a number of adjustments required to accommodate the impact of construction in and around built-up areas, often where very technical and specialist equipment is operating.

In Clayton with Suburban Rail Loop and the removal of the level crossing there we had to schedule times for heavy construction to occur to coincide with ophthalmology surgery and also with really intricate fertility treatments that were taking place in and around the area through specialist biomedical and other services, so there is extensive experience in understanding what impact looks like and making adjustments to minimise that impact. However, when we are talking about large-scale construction we are also talking about the operation of heavy machinery. This is where, again, in working alongside the Heatherton community, the Suburban Rail Loop Authority has been talking with the community about a range of options that exist to minimise and to mitigate the impact of those works. That includes offering respite, relocation and work on changes that can be done, including through watering of areas where dust may arise as a problem in warmer months to the ingress and egress for vehicles across various parts of the site. That ranges from ongoing discussions with community crews and the Suburban Rail Loop Authority on the one hand right through to voluntary purchase opportunities, which are, again, the subject of ongoing discussions with a number of residents at this time. We do want to make sure that in addressing the impact of major construction, we are doing so in a way that respects and recognises the impact on people in and around areas where major construction is occurring, and that as these works continue and we deliver the Suburban Rail Loop, we are doing so in a way that understands and respects those impacts into the future.

I just want to make a couple of other points in response to Mr Welch’s final remarks on that adjournment, where I suggested to him that on the basis of what he was talking about with an acoustic shed and with noise attenuation he was supporting the project. In response to that, I just want to be really clear that Mr Welch, in putting this position on the record, said, ‘We don’t support the project. No, no, we don’t. We haven’t changed our position.’ This is something which, again, will come as yet another surprise, and yet everything old is new again when it comes to the coalition and its repeated backflips on a position on the Suburban Rail Loop. It is unfortunate that the shadow minister for transport infrastructure, Matthew Guy, is not here. He has disappeared and headed to South America, getting as far away as he possibly can from his colleagues in the Victorian coalition, which is not in and of itself a bad idea given that every day we see a new implosion because of the complete inability to find any consensus on a position which Victorians have backed in at four elections now.

We saw just today an editorial from the former Premier, who was Mr Guy’s boss at the time, Jeff Kennett, talking about how the Suburban Rail Loop should not proceed until certain circumstances occur around the Victorian government of the future. Therefore he is suggesting that until such time – an indeterminate period and point in the future – that tunnel boring machine should sink into the ground and we should actually just stand down 3000 workers. That is off the back of what current opposition leader Brad Battin said when he said, ‘Pause and review – we will pause and review.’ Nobody actually knows what that means, because ‘pause’ would seem to mean that we stop work while another set of circumstances occurs. A ‘review’ means that you could be in fact doing anything from a full-scale assessment through to walking out on site. But again, Mr Guy’s colleagues – again, on the other side of the world to him now – seem to have no clear understanding or idea of what that means.

We have also seen, in separate dispatches from the opposition, the member for Brighton in the other place talking about how the project should be scrapped and workers should down tools. That would tend to indicate that he wants the project not to proceed at all. Mr Welch, when he was on an outside broadcast at the Box Hill site, some 23 metres above where the underground station will be located, referred to his priority being to save Victoria. That was when he was asked about what his position was on the Suburban Rail Loop. Yet again, that is as clear as mud, because we do not actually know what that means save for the fact that saving Victoria might well mean saving Victoria from the ambiguity and the mass confusion being attended upon the Victorian Liberals at this particular point in time. We have seen different positions variously over time. Mr Battin has created more than a measure of confusion, ably assisted by Mr O’Brien and Mr Pesutto. Mr Rowswell issued a video very late on Saturday night on Instagram which referred to –

Ann-Marie Hermans: On a point of order, President, I do not believe that the response at the end of the evening about the number of adjournments that we have had and the response from the minister is actually on point with what has been actually said by Mr Welch. It has got nothing to do with the adjournment. It is a completely off point, and I would ask that you ask the minister to stay on topic, please.

Michael Galea: Further to the point of order, President, the point of an adjournment debate is for matters to be raised to ministers so that they may respond and act. The minister is acting by responding to the matter which has been raised by Mr Welch. I am not sure if Liberal Party members expect their matters to be listened to by anyone – perhaps they do not – but it is appropriate that the minister, especially the responsible minister, actually responds, and it is good that she is.

The PRESIDENT: The minister can acquit a matter in the way she sees fit. There are no rulings around how she goes about doing that, and it is actually called the adjournment debate. We used to live in a time when the minister would speak on every portfolio. We used to be here for a very long time, so I think we have evolved into something that is a bit better than that.

Harriet SHING: Mrs Hermans, credit to you, you are still here. That does indicate a preparedness perhaps to stick around and to hear some of the detail about the Suburban Rail Loop, unlike your colleague the member for Bulleen in the other place, who has literally taken himself to the other side of the world in order to not be here for this particular discussion on Australia’s largest transport and housing project.

I just want to perhaps round out my response to Mr Welch’s adjournment this evening, where he said ‘We don’t support the project. No, no, we don’t. We haven’t changed our position.’ That is confirming this evening, at 10 past 12 on what is now Friday 29 August, that the Liberal–National parties do not support the project, which is at odds with a range of his colleagues, but in fact we will continue with the project. We are building the project. We have only ever had one position in relation to the project: that it stacks up, that it is necessary, that it will make a fundamental difference in providing people with housing options and with better access to public transport, that it will reduce congestion and travel times, that it will help the city to grow and, in addition to that, that it sits alongside a range of other investments in rail infrastructure, including the work at Sunshine, the Melbourne Airport rail loop, the untangling of the Sunshine services, the Melton electrification, and that sits alongside the Melbourne Metro Tunnel of course and the West Gate Tunnel as well. So while those opposite might seek to continue to tie themselves in the most extraordinary of knots – the contortion has been quite extraordinary – we will continue with the project that Victorians have backed in and supported for four elections now. Mr Welch, I would just conclude by saying you are welcome anytime at a site that is well underway, where construction has been occurring since 2022. I would be delighted to show you around and perhaps to reinforce a number of the views of your colleagues who do support the project while you stand in strident opposition to it.

I will address very briefly the matter raised by Mr Galea, which also relates to the Suburban Rail Loop. Mr Galea was asking for a discussion and an update on the benefits of the Suburban Rail Loop for the Cheltenham through to Box Hill corridor. As part of Australia’s largest housing and rail project, we are delivering 70,000 homes across these areas where, when trains commence operation in 2035, we will see travel time slashed, we will see better connectivity, including a station at Australia’s largest university, and we will see tunnel-boring machines continue to be able to deliver the sort of infrastructure that had we had the opportunity we would have built 100 years ago. I just want to perhaps give you a point of relevance here, Mr Galea. In 1880 – Mr Davis was probably in the chamber then – when the rail line from Melbourne to Lilydale was built, we displaced farmland and orchards, and that involved change, but what it also enabled was the delivery of housing. As a consequence, what we see now is built-up suburbs all the way from Melbourne right out to Lilydale, and we have seen the delivery of large-scale investment in all of the infrastructure that communities need.

This is a good demonstration of what happens when planning is undertaken for future generations and when growth occurs but occurs well. Growth, Mrs Hermans, is inevitable, but good growth is a choice, and that is why we are continuing with the work on the Suburban Rail Loop, including in partnership with councils and in partnership with communities, including as part of a draft structure plan process, planning scheme amendments, hearings and an extensive process of engagement, consultation and discussion with the Suburban Rail Loop Authority to make sure that this transformational project occurs in a way that enhances communities, that builds and enhances open space and that ensures that when and as we increase density, affordability and supply we are doing so in a way that means that people have further housing options to live closer to where they grew up and that people have options to live closer to public transport, to health care and to education. This is again about a polycentric city. When we think about a polycentric city, I know that in the business and investment case that was produced back in 2021 it was made really clear that Plan Melbourne had actually set out the importance of developing and delivering a polycentric city, and Mr Guy, when I was privileged to appear in a radio panel with him a couple of weeks ago, indicated that he had written Plan Melbourne. So he was prepared to define the problem but not actually create any solutions. Now, the solutions that were proposed at the time from the coalition or in various dispatches – and who knows whether they have remained static or not, because things keep changing all the time –

Ann-Marie Hermans: On a point of order, President, is there a time limit on how long the minister can go for on this or is this an unlimited speech?

The PRESIDENT: To address the point of order, there is no time limit on the minister’s response to adjournments, but it does suggest in the standing orders that the minister should try to be brief in their response. Unfortunately it does not describe what brief is, so brief could be subjective. This minister might, in her mind, be being quite brief in what she wants to externalise.

Harriet SHING: I do note the lateness of the hour, and Mrs Hermans, I would be delighted to provide you with a briefing on another day, should you wish to understand a little bit more about the project that you and your colleagues seem so determined to rip each other apart about.

Mr Galea, thank you for your interest in the Suburban Rail Loop and all of the things that it is doing. It is transformational. It is making a fundamental difference in communities already. We are determined to make sure that it is embedded in the work of a growing city that grows well. I would be delighted to continue to provide you with updates. I can also, with reasonable confidence, say that those updates will be necessary if we are to try to understand what appear to be the constant dynamic and the inevitability of change of the coalition party’s position on the Suburban Rail Loop overall as a project. So I will leave that particular matter there.

Finally, Mr McIntosh had raised a matter, as had Ms Watt, about Development Victoria and the work on enhancing our parks and public spaces. Neither of them are in the chamber now, so perhaps in deference to you, Mrs Hermans, and the fact that you have had a very big week, I am very happy to perhaps provide them with a written response so that again there can be no issue about my desire to make sure that there is an adequate level of respect afforded to those here in the chamber, alongside the people who work so hard to keep this Parliament functioning at its optimal level. That is it from me.

The PRESIDENT: The house stands adjourned.

House adjourned 12:14 am (Friday).