Wednesday, 18 March 2026

 Gaelle BROAD (Northern Victoria) (17:45): I certainly have a lot in common with my Nationals colleague Melina Bath, because I am also speaking on the Victorian Auditor-General’s Office Modernising Myki report that was tabled today. I am not surprised by it, because we do know the importance of public transport and that it is lacking in regional areas. I did attend the briefing that VAGO provided today, and it was very interesting indeed. It did mention that their findings from this report are that the projected value for the money is uncertain. What they found was disputes led to a contract standstill – apparently there was a standstill for six months – and the project reset extended the timelines by 18 months and led to a $136.8 million rise in costs.

It is interesting when you look at the map of the areas that are V/Line without Myki services, boy oh boy. Northern Victoria certainly features in this – Swan Hill, Echuca, Shepparton, Wodonga – and other areas: Bairnsdale, Maryborough, Ararat, Warrnambool. There is plenty of work to be done in these areas. When you look at the timeframe, by 2027, phase 3, new tap-and-go payments are to be launched for concession fares and Myki is to be expanded to all regional areas. But it is very concerning when the Auditor-General’s office looked into this, because they found DTP, the Department of Transport and Planning:

… does not have detailed plans for Phase 3 and Phase 4, so it is not clear how it will manage upcoming tasks and challenges.

It goes on to say:

These phases are due to be ready by mid to late 2027. But they are more technically complex than earlier phases. DTP and CVTS have not started detailed planning for these phases. This includes planning with V/Line to expand the new system to regional areas.

As this work hasn’t started, the department cannot be reliably assured that these future phases will be delivered on time and with expected functionality.

That should send alarm bells to anyone living in regional areas who is waiting very, very patiently for their public transport while this government continues to spend billions of dollars in Melbourne. I know places 10 minutes from Bendigo, suburbs with thousands of people, that still have no bus service even. VAGO, when they looked into this and the cost of fare collection, looked at how much it costs per dollar of fare. Well, it costs 26 cents to actually collect that fare with all the costs that have gone into it. Other similar systems they found were 10 cents out of the dollar for a fare collection. So there is a big, big difference there.

I think it is time that the Minister for Transport fast-track – excuse the pun – services, particularly public transport to regional areas. But I know under Labor governments, time and time again they want regional Victorians to be very patient. ‘Wait for your service, because we’re focused on Melbourne.’ Well, all I can say to regional Victoria is: it is time to be patient and wait for the election in November, when I hope we will see a change of government.