Hansard debates

Mr GIDLEY (Mount Waverley) — (11 829) My adjournment matter tonight is for the Minister for Public Transport. The action I seek is for the minister to stop stalling on implementing the work done by the previous Liberal-Nationals state government and turn Labor's shoddy, short-changed, shortcut SmartBus route 703 into an actual SmartBus route and to stop dudding the good residents of my district.

If you have a look at the SmartBus project on the Public Transport Victoria website and also the former Department of Transport site, it is very clear what that bus service should be. It should run as a high-frequency bus service every 15 minutes between 6.30 a.m. and 9.00 p.m. Its frequency should average every 30 minutes between 5.00 a.m. and 6.30 a.m., and it should run on average every 30 minutes between 9.00 p.m. and midnight on weekdays. It should also run between 6.00 a.m. and midnight on Saturdays and public holidays at 30-minute intervals, and run on average at a 30-minute frequency between 7.00 a.m. and 9.00 p.m. on Sundays, Good Friday and Christmas Day.

The great shame with this bus route is that significant work — most of the heavy lifting — was done by the previous Liberal-Nationals government to ensure that this SmartBus route that was introduced by Labor as a short-changed SmartBus route actually fitted the definition of a SmartBus route. The service frequencies were going to be improved, the operating hours were going to be improved and the consultation was done — all the heavy lifting was done. It was all ready to be implemented. It is very sad to say that at this time, even after giving this minister quite a period of time to deliver this, it still has not been delivered.

Unfortunately my great fear is that, like so many other projects in my district, this minister thinks that she can get away with short-changing my constituents, because this is not the first public transport project in my district that has been cut back under this government. Whether it is trying to scale back the Syndal multistorey car park, reducing plans for improvements at the Glen Waverley railway station or other things, it is very clear what Labor's agenda is in public transport in my district — that is, to cut the projects and deliver as little as possible.

I understand that there is always some politics in government, but fair dinkum when most of the work is done, when the heavy lifting is done to improve this SmartBus route, all the minister needed to do was sign off and implement the work already done. I call on the minister to stop stalling. I call on the minister to ensure the service frequencies and that the duration of the route goes through to Middle Brighton. Nothing less than a full bus service all the way to Middle Brighton will satisfy my constituents. I call on the minister to stop delaying and implement that work.