I know how important this transport link is to our community and I know how frustrating it can be when a train is cancelled or runs late.

Every month, V/Line delivers more than 1000 services on the Bendigo line; more services carrying more people than ever before.

This doesn’t happen by accident – it happens because the Andrews Labor Government is investing in new trains, more services, increased maintenance and massive infrastructure upgrades across our regional rail network. 

The fact is, over the past month those 1000 services a month were delivered with 97 per cent reliability.

The cancelled services reported in yesterday’s Addy represent just 0.5% of services that ran this year – that’s 1 in every 200 trains that services our community.

But we know we can always do better. Labor Governments know the value of investing in regional rail for regional Victorians, unlike the former Liberal-National Government who ripped $120 million out of V/Line, and forgot to order new trains for 2 years.

I’m proud to be part of a government that is investing more than ever before in regional rail.  For example, the $91 million Bendigo Line Upgrade will improve signalling to allow more trains to run to Epsom and Eaglehawk and improve reliability. It will also provide a significant upgrade to the Echuca train corridor, delivering faster, more frequent and reliable services to the north of Bendigo.

Since coming to Andrews Labor Government we’ve added 38 extra services on the Bendigo line.  Last year we added extra peak hour services for Bendigo, 10 weekday services to Epsom Station, an extra evening service to Eaglehawk and more services to Kangaroo Flat during the week. We’ve delivered 48 new V/Locity carriages since October 2016 with another 39 on the way, with many of these have been allocated to the busiest services on the Bendigo line.

And we’re training more drivers so we can more reliably run more services – we have new drivers graduating at the end of May and more to follow between September and December.

When a train is cancelled or delayed it’s frustrating and it’s disruptive – that’s why we’ll continue to invest and strive to deliver better services to get Bendigo passengers home sooner and safer.

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It’s outrageous. Everyday I meet individuals who claim a cultural identity that’s different to my own but have readily appropriated aspects of my culture.

How dare these individuals vote at our elections and claim the right of freedom of speech and wear jeans and t-shirts and suits and ties and even frocks.

These things are a fundamental part of my culture and should only be utilized by those who are prepared to identify with my culture as the primary aspect of their identity.

If the country is going to operate on the basis of identity politics then my mob will have to come out fighting for what they believe in.

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