The ‘Lost, not forgotten’ report of Victoria’s Commissioner for Children and Young People is a chilling read, and reveals continued failures across child protection and family services. There have been 35 child suicides, all aged between 12 and 17, after their cases where closed. This report, along with others, is scathing about the inadequacies in the Department of Health and Human Services and other public health services. I asked Parliament to prioritise early intervention strategies for vulnerable familes. We cannot continue to tip money into the crises end….the findings of this report are unacceptable, and we need to prioritise sustained funding to address the root cause that leaves vulnerable children exposed. We need to stop failing these children.
I MOVE – That this House requests that the Minister for Transport Infrastructure, the Hon Jacinta Allan MP, attend a public meeting, to provide information and answer questions about the Murray Basin Rail Project, at a time of day and at a place in Northern Victoria of her choosing, on or before 15 November 2019.”
I will resume my speech from 16 October by re-stating the basic purpose of this motion, from the perspective of Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party.
Primarily,
it is intended to be an information-seeking exercise … one that gives
Victorians more detail about the future of the Murray Basin Rail Project.
This is
through requesting that the lead Minister, Jacinta Allan, attend a public
meeting to provide information and answer questions in relation to the
project.
As I said on
16 October, the Murray Basin Rail Project was meant (to paraphrase Minister
Allan’s own words from 2015) to:
have standardised the Murray Basin
rail network;
more efficiently allowed primary
producers to transport greater produce (especially grain, horticultural produce
and mineral sands) to port; and
Significantly boosted jobs and the
regional economy.
By the time
last year that it was supposed to have been completed, it would also have
delivered a host of other benefits, including creating faster travel times and
increasing the loads that could be carried – thereby removing around 20,000
truck trips off Victoria’s roads.
Instead, it
is less than half finished and, disastrously, it is generally believed that the
track is in a worse state than when the $440 million project began.
To cut a long story short, the project centred on changes of gauge on the
Mildura, Manangatang and Sea Lake lines and upgrades to the track between
Ballarat and both Geelong and Maryborough.
However, before things came to a halt some time ago now, the only part
of the track that was standardised was the section between Ararat and Merbein –
and even that work was beset by many problems.
Many Victorians are now completely in the dark about the project’s future. This includes thousands of individuals whose
livelihoods are closely tied to its fate.
As well as private sector companies that made multi-million dollar
investments on the basis of clear commitments from the Government. They all need answers, urgently.
Most of my
constituents and I just want information – and recognition of the fundamental
democratic principle that politicians should always be answerable to the
public. We should never forget in here
the basic obligation in any democracy for government to be genuinely
responsible, accountable and transparent – especially when something has gone
terribly wrong.
I will
happily acknowledge that Minister Allan has (as far as I’m aware) willingly
continued over recent years to make her staff available to brief other MPs
(including me) on the project.
However,
that in itself highlights one of the key problems here. Which is that whilst we, as MPs, have the
opportunity to receive behind-closed-doors briefings, the general public has
received very little detail for a long time now.
Said with
all due courtesy to the Minister’s advisers, the answers in her office’s
briefing to me also offered no real advance on her statements to PAEC on 12
June that, I think, represent her last expansive public comments about the
project.
The answers
in that briefing were also largely at odds with the information and commentary
that is continually coming from many key stakeholders.
By that, I
mean the observations on the public record of people like Dean Dalla Valle (the
CEO of Pacific National), who says “the cost of having this project not meet
its planned potential is a cost this country can ill afford”.
Similarly, VFF Grains Group President Ashley Fraser describes this as “a
critical piece of infrastructure … (and says the VFF urgently wants) a
commitment to the project and firm timelines”.
Likewise,
the Rail Freight Alliance Chairman Glenn Milne observes (on behalf of 28
Councils throughout Victoria) that “industry has invested millions of dollars
in new locomotives, rolling stock conversion to standard gauge and warehousing
and the silence from the Victorian Government on the future of this project is
deafening”.
If all of that isn’t enough in any case, perhaps another way of demonstrating
the need for a public appearance by Ms Allan (and therefore yet another reason
why this motion should be supported) is if I outline just some of the many
burning questions that need answers.
They include questions like the following:
If it is the Minister’s position – as
she has said more than once – that the original 2012 business case was clearly
deficient, why would she have ever agreed to implement it?
Why did physical track inspections
apparently only occur years into the project rather than beforehand, especially
when $5 million was specifically allocated in 2015-16 to pre-construction
safety and maintenance work?
Why (as first reported by Stock &
Land’s Andrew Miller) has rail track more than 100 years old been used in this
project, and laid on new sleepers and ballast?
Moreover, how common has this practice been on this and other recent
Victorian rail projects?
Does the Minister concede that such
action severely compromises another of the project’s main goals – which was to
allow trains to travel at wheel axle weights of 21 tonnes rather than 19?
On what dates respectively did the
Government first become aware of (a) the possibility and (b) the certainty that
the allocation of $440 million would be exhausted without the project reaching
completion? And on what dates
respectively did it formally inform the Federal Government of each of these two
things?
Is it true (as I keep hearing) that
Deputy Prime Minister McCormack’s office has been frequently contacting
Minister Allan’s office to try to talk about what needs to be done to continue
the project, but is barely hearing anything back in return?
What is the status of the revised
business case on which work apparently started many months ago now?
Will the once-regular industry
advisory group meetings ever be convened again?
Given the Government is clearly
struggling to find new money for this project, should people also now be
worried about the implications for other regional rail projects like the North
East Rail Line and the Shepparton Line upgrades?
Since the Andrews Government came to
power in 2014, how much in total has been spent on transport-related
infrastructure in and around Melbourne and how much, by comparison, in regional
Victoria?
Will the Government not be allocating
any further money to the Murray Basin Rail Project until at least the time of
next year’s Budget?
Would the Government still complete
the project if it was rescoped to a lesser version of the original plan – or
would the current model be the minimum model to which it would commit?
If the Federal Government did not
again supply at least half of any new funding, would that mean the Victorian
Government would not commit any further money to the project? Worse still, is there any truth to the
gathering rumour that it is now Minister Allan’s plan to try to transfer all
responsibility for the project to the Federal Government?
Alternatively, will the Victorian
Government provide a guarantee that it will still complete the full Murray
Basin Rail Project – and, if so, by when will the work be finished?
I hope
Government Members who speak in this debate today might themselves answer those
questions. Albeit that it remains
crucially important that people have a chance to hear the answers first-hand
from the Minister herself.
Despite many
peoples’ frustration, there remains enormous interest (as well as financial
investment) in the Murray Basin Rail Project’s future … and I genuinely believe
their respect for her would increase if she personally spoke with them and
provided frank answers to their questions and concerns.
In closing,
let me therefore reaffirm that Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party urges Ms Allan to
attend a public meeting about this project.
Because we believe that, if she does so, it will improve understanding
on all sides – and it will give affected communities and stakeholders
throughout the State (and beyond) at least some of the information that is
critically needed.
Like many
thousands of people, our Party hopes very strongly for a full resumption of the
project as soon as possible. Whatever the future of it might be, though, the
very worst thing right now for anyone with a stake in the project is to
continue to be met by more silence.
And, on that
note, I commend this motion to the House.
I am inspired by the strength shown each and every day by Denise and Bruce Morcombe. It was a privilege to be a part of “Day for Daniel’. The Daniel Morcombe Foundation does wonderful work, and on a day like today it reinforces our commitment to a public register for child sex offenders and continuing to do everything we can to keep children safe.
https://media.taniamaxwell.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/25151410/Day-for-Daniel.jpg575781Tania Maxwellhttps://media.taniamaxwell.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/30133823/PoV-Crest-White.pngTania Maxwell2019-10-25 15:19:242019-10-25 15:20:03Daniel Morcomb Foundation - Day for Daniel
I have called for a public hearing in Wangaratta as part of the Victorian Parliament’s Inquiry into Homelessness.
The Inquiry is being conducted by the Legislative Council’s Legal and Social Issues Committee, of which I am a member, and is considering the state of homelessness in Victoria.
https://media.taniamaxwell.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/22100447/Homelessness-Inquiry-doorstop.jpg15491920Tania Maxwellhttps://media.taniamaxwell.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/30133823/PoV-Crest-White.pngTania Maxwell2019-10-22 10:14:222019-10-22 10:29:40Homelessness in Victoria- Call for a hearing in Wangaratta
I moved a Motion in Parliament for Minimum Jail sentences for assaults on Emergency Services workers. Current Victorian laws on Mandatoy sentencing in this instance are inadequate and contain loopholes for offenders to avoid Jail. I will continue to work for victims and ensure their voices are heard.
https://media.taniamaxwell.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/17111358/Emergency-services-16102019.jpg515400Tania Maxwellhttps://media.taniamaxwell.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/30133823/PoV-Crest-White.pngTania Maxwell2019-10-16 11:05:062019-10-17 13:33:50Motion for Mandatory sentences on assaults on Emergency Services workers
https://media.taniamaxwell.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/14070054/Parole.jpg183275Tania Maxwellhttps://media.taniamaxwell.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/30133823/PoV-Crest-White.pngTania Maxwell2019-08-14 07:01:562019-08-16 14:49:36Motion to strengthen parole conditions
Rod Barton from the Transport Matters Party moved a motion that the Legal and Social Committee inquire into the state of homelessness in Victoria. Here are details of the motion and my comments of support.
https://media.taniamaxwell.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/26171858/thumbnail-Homelessness.jpg475598Tania Maxwellhttps://media.taniamaxwell.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/30133823/PoV-Crest-White.pngTania Maxwell2019-06-07 14:51:292019-07-26 17:19:33Non Government Business - Motion for LSIC to inquire into homelessness in Victoria
The Australian Bureau of Criminal Intelligence estimates 40,000 Australian children will be sexually assaulted each year. In 2017, there were over 4000 active persons on the Sex Offenders Register in Victoria.
https://media.taniamaxwell.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/30165835/sex-offender-registry-1.jpg8361254dutchadminhttps://media.taniamaxwell.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/30133823/PoV-Crest-White.pngdutchadmin2019-05-14 15:49:532019-08-01 16:18:09The need for a public register of sex offenders