I am really excited today to join my colleagues on this side of the house in rising to speak on the Transport Legislation Amendment Bill 2020. I have got lots of great things to say about this bill and about the Big Build, an incredible amount of infrastructure that our government is delivering right now right across Victoria and, most importantly, closer to my heart in the outer west, but I cannot start without actually reflecting on the member for Prahran’s contribution to the house today on this bill.

Over the past couple of years I have sat here and listened intently and quietly to the contributions by the Greens. But to sit in my office earlier this morning listening to his contribution about the infrastructure that the Andrews Labor government is building in the state had me quite riled up and very angry indeed. There are many reasons for that. It strikes me that the member for Prahran is a man that has only ever really visited the train stations of Windsor and Prahran. I say to the member for Prahran: I too have stood on those platforms. I was one of those happy women, happy mums with a double pram, that you talked about and wanted to see more of on our public transport network. But it has become pretty obvious to me over the last two years that I have listened to their contributions that it is not just the member for Prahran that has not ventured across the West Gate Bridge and ventured out west into places like Tarneit and Melton. They come in here and they stand in this place and they talk about population growth and they spout numbers. They talk about the number of people, the growth in this state, but they have never actually come out and seen it. They have never seen what happens when you have tens of thousands of people on a daily basis sitting in their cars trying to get to the entrance of the West Gate Bridge to cross that bridge to go to work. That is why investments in things like the West Gate Tunnel, the level crossing removals right across the state—and I have to say there are three level crossings that are going to be removed in Wyndham in my electorate on Old Geelong Road, or as we like to say, ‘Hoppers is losing its Crossing’—and the $1.8 billion investment that this government is getting on with to deliver roads in the west are important.

The majority of that money being spent is in my electorate. We are upgrading roads that have not been upgraded for too long. I talk to people in my community and they say that it has taken too long to upgrade these roads, but they do agree that the upgrades—the widening, the duplication, and in some circumstances when it comes to Leakes Road in particular, the triplication—that $1.8 billion worth of investment, means that every single day people in my electorate can drive around in their cars and they will notice the difference from this money being spent.

I invite the member for Prahran to look around his electorate—because what he might not know is that I am someone that not only spends a lot of time in my electorate but I love getting out and about and experiencing all the great things that Melbourne has to offer and also what we have to offer in the regions and in rural Victoria—and I say to the member for Prahran, ‘I invite you to go to Izett Street, right there in the heart of Prahran. There is a little cafe there, a great cafe, called Babble Bar and Cafe’. It is run by a local family that live in my electorate, that live in Tarneit. Let me tell you that is a hell of a long way to travel on a daily basis. This cafe is open seven days a week. So I popped in to say hello to Mayur and Nehal, who I say congratulations to because they have just given birth to their second child as of last week. This is a growing family with two young kids. They are very much the demographic of my local electorate—a young couple with two young children.

Now this couple do not catch public transport over to Prahran. They get up in the morning and they get in their car. I have no idea what they do with their children and I have no idea how hard this is going to be with a newborn baby, but they get up every morning, and they must get up really early. I would say it is probably somewhere around 4.00 am—I say to the member for Prahran, and I know that he has children, I bet you don’t get up at 4.00 am to get on public transport to go to work or you don’t get up at 4.00 am to get dressed in the dark, get into your car and then spend the next 2 hours gridlocked in traffic—and that is to get to the entrance to the West Gate Bridge.

And that is why the West Gate Tunnel is life-changing. It is a life-changing visionary project that will be delivered by this Labor government. It has not been without its issues or its challenges, but let me tell you, as I say to people in my electorate, in Wyndham: yes, we have our challenges ahead of us, but by God we need that tunnel delivered. It is going to knock off 20 minutes each way for people in the west. You know, I am really keen to see once that tunnel is open how long it will actually knock off for commuters in Tarneit, for people like Mayur and Nehal there at Babble Bar and Cafe.

Now, the member for Prahran—and I just found this absolutely patronising, a disgusting display of what the Greens actually think is happening in this state—was talking about being on the platforms of Windsor and Prahran train stations and customers looking around for friendly ticket staff to buy their ticket from. Well, mate, I invite you officially to come to Tarneit station. You will have to get up early. I suggest it would be something around 5.00 am, and then you can actually come out and you can see the traffic that is there at 5.00 am. It is all lit up—you could see it from the moon. And they are gridlocked way, way back. They are coming in from Geelong. A lot of Geelong people come along and cross Tarneit in their cars, but they also cross Tarneit through Tarneit train station there on the V/Line on their way to the city. When you come out to Tarneit station you need to be there, I say to the member for Prahran, by 7.00 am. Because do you know what happens at 7.00 am? You get to our car park—and there are 1000 car parks at this station—and it is full. We are building another 500 extra car parks. You know, that might be something that when you talk about the stations at Prahran and Windsor you struggle to get your head around. People find it difficult to walk to Tarneit train station. It sits out there at the moment in the middle of this huge field.

Now, in the very near future we are going to have 1500 spaces at this car park, but when you come out you had better have your Myki card ready. You will not want to go and buy a ticket. Let me tell you why: because those 1000 car parks are full. They are full by 7.00 am, and you will walk up, you will want to swipe your card and you will want to get on that platform. You will not be looking around for waves and good mornings from friendly ticket staff. You will be looking for a crowd controller there on the platform. There are a hell of a lot of people trying to get on the train at this station. This train station is the second-busiest station outside of Southern Cross on the V/Line. This is a huge, huge station.

So when you get onto the platform and you look around you might not see any familiar faces, and the train will arrive and if you are really lucky you will be able to get on that train—because the trains coming in from Geelong are packed, they are crowded, which is why we are building bigger trains and which most importantly is why we have the Western Rail Plan. Because do you know what Tarneit needs? Tarneit needs to get off the V/Line. It needs to get off the V/Line, and it needs to be on the metro line. We would have more trains running more often, and—this is what the member for Prahran, if he came out to this station, would realise—you might even get a seat. And I can tell you something: as a mum with a pram commuting into the city, this is not a trip that takes 2 or 3 minutes. This is a trip that takes some time, and something you will be after is a seat.

I know I have talked about the member for Prahran and his absolute delusions about what is happening in this state, but it is for these reasons and because of our government’s investment under this Big Build that this bill is going to help facilitate that I commend the bill to the house.