Hansard debates

Mr McGUIRE (Broadmeadows) (17:27:42): (1174) My adjournment request is to the Minister for Transport Infrastructure. The action I seek is an update on the landmark Suburban Rail Loop project. The Andrews Labor government has confirmed the preferred stage 1 route of Victoria’s biggest transport project and a dedicated new authority to deliver it. The proposed $50 billion project will connect every metropolitan train line from Cheltenham to Werribee, create a rail link to the international, curfew-free Melbourne Airport and build three transport super-hubs at Broadmeadows, Sunshine and Clayton. This week the Premier joined the Minister for Transport Infrastructure to confirm the preferred alignment and station precinct locations from Cheltenham to Box Hill for the 90-kilometre rail link around Melbourne’s middle suburbs to better connect people to jobs, universities, TAFE institutions and health care. Melbourne’s north is predicted to soon grow to the population size of Adelaide. The Broadmeadows Revitalisation Board, which I had the privilege to chair, identified and prioritised key initiatives, including the redevelopment of the Broadmeadows station. Broadmeadows is the designated capital of Melbourne’s north, where one in 20 Australians is expected to live within two decades. I will remind the house that the one-term Victorian coalition government took the reverse Robin Hood strategy—they took almost $80 million out of the upgrade for Broadmeadows railway station and a government services building and shunted it down the rail line to Frankston to sandbag a marginal seat that they lost. And we have had the managed decline strategy from the federal coalition to Melbourne’s north despite the demise of the auto industry and Broadmeadows being the hardest hit area. I am keen to connect with the minister, who has been generous in her comments and briefings so far, to learn more about what we can do to bring back the jobs and the industries, particularly in line with getting further private-sector investment. It was the Andrews Labor government that did reinvest money into the Broadmeadows railway station, and we are trying to work in a cooperative way to bring in new industries and jobs. We have a $500 million investor for the Ford sites in Broadmeadows and Geelong, so that is a wonderful opportunity. We will also be looking to the Australian government. They have made a commitment to a city deal for Melbourne’s north and west, so we would like to actually see what commitment that will mean and how it can actually deliver for these areas, because this is where you have the best opportunity to fast-track private investment and where the jobs are needed the most. I look forward to working with the minister to try and get the best for the community, for economic development and for jobs for the community that I represent.