Privatisation

The Hon. J.E. HANSON (15:50): 'We don't have a privatisation agenda'—a blatant broken promise. It is just impossible to see how anyone can say this and then turn around within 18 months and propose to sell something as fundamental as our train and tram network. The Steven Marshall decision to privatise trains and trams will result in higher fares, reduced and unreliable services, packed carriages and a daily inconvenience to more than 75,000 users of that network.

History has shown that the privatisation of public transport networks is a disaster. In London, the privatisation of the Underground in 2003 was such a disaster that it was bought back into public hands within six years, but not before fares increased at four times the rate of inflation. Fewer more costly and less reliable services will lower the appeal of public transport. More people will be on our roads. There will be more parking and driving congestion. This will ramp up the cost-of-living expenses on working families and the vulnerable.

In Melbourne, the privatisation of the trains has been a slow-moving wreck from when it started in 1999, with one of the operators suffering such a significant financial issue that it had to pull out of the deal from almost day one. Within seven years of the privatisation occurring to Melbourne rail, a report found that the privatised system was costing taxpayers $1.2 billion more to run than if it had remained in public hands—$1.2 billion more.

In 2015, leaked documents showed that more than 15 trains a day were being secretly turned into express trains. What does this mean? It is a process known as station skipping. It is a process used by private operators to avoid millions of dollars in fines placed on them by the state government for running a poor-quality service. Thousands of Victorians were stranded on platforms in the sunny Melbourne weather as trains whizzed past them, or perhaps worse, they were stranded in the carriage as their so-called express service left them miles away from where they wanted to be. Worse than this, earlier this year, hundreds of angry commuters were left dumped at Flinders Street Railway Station after the train bypassed the City Loop to avoid running late.

What would Steven Marshall do about these kinds of problems? He has refused to say. A Steven Marshall government has refused to reveal what on-time running percentage will be written into his privatisation deal. What does that mean? Put simply, it is not even clear if there will be any consequence at all for any operator running late ever or not arriving at all. What a shambles. It is not even cheaper to be provided with a worse service in Melbourne than what we see in South Australia. It is not cheaper, it is just a fact that Melbourne commuters pay almost 50 per cent more than South Australians do for a service that skips their stop, does not run on time and is less accountable for its mistakes. Privatisation of trains and trams does not make sense.

In stark contrast to the Liberal Party, the Labor Party has an unprecedented record of support for public transport. Labor extended the O-Bahn to the CBD. We extended and modernised the train network. We invested over $2 billion into the rail network, with new stations and modern electric cars. We electrified and extended the line to Seaford. We doubled the availability of park-and-rides to almost 12,000 spaces. Heck, even the Victorian Labor Party stepped in and saved the Overland when Steven Marshall could not be bothered to do that.

In short, we are a party that believes in public transport. We have a service now that runs on time, with greater satisfaction than a privatised service ever could. We believe that it is an essential service that should remain in public hands. That is why the 2022 election will be an election with a real difference on public transport. Labor will bring our trains and trams back into public hands. We will reverse the Marshall Liberal government's privatisation on our trains and trams. Only Labor will stand up and fight for the public transport users and the services on which they rely every day for their everyday lives.