Sheena WATT (Northern Metropolitan) (09:44): The Metro Tunnel has only been open for eight months, but it is already slashing commute times and making the lives of those that work and study in our city easier. Earlier this week, alongside local councillor and candidate for Melbourne Davydd Griffiths, I met with Elly, Jimmy and Emma, all students studying at the University of Melbourne who have benefited from the brand new Parkville station and Metro Tunnel. All of them said so clearly to Davydd and me how the Metro Tunnel has changed their life at university. Elly told me how the tunnel has slashed her commute time in half, and with quick access to the Parkville medical precinct, it is also making it easier for her volunteer work at the Royal Children’s Hospital to continue. All of them talked to me about how it has fundamentally improved their experiences at university, allowing many of them – some students along the Sunbury, Pakenham and Cranbourne lines – to take earlier classes, study late into the night and, more importantly, get a bit of sleep in the morning. Parkville is a world-class station serving a world-class university, and the students are all the better for it. It is Labor that delivered the Metro Tunnel, and it is only Labor candidates like Davydd that can deliver the public transport our university students rely upon.