Melina BATH (Eastern Victoria) (19:04): (2628) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Public and Active Transport. Today it happens to be Minister Williams. We often raise issues in terms of the bus timetable, and in regional Victoria buses are a real lifeblood for connecting people to services and their families and communities and work. 150 days ago I wrote to the minister with regard to the Latrobe Valley, which on 2 February had ‘significant network upgrades’. Really what it meant was hardships and missed timetables for residents, older people, people with disability and those living with disability in Moe in particular. That was one area where people were most distressed about the misconnections of the bus timetable. I also raised in this house a matter in relation to the Leongatha and Wonthaggi bus timetable being so short that people really could not access the service to meet an appointment that they needed. In doing so, it is pleasing to know that the minister somehow managed to listen and update and change the Wonthaggi–Leongatha routes, after suffering. But imagine my surprise when we hear in relation to the Latrobe Valley – and I might add that I had bus drivers coming to me saying that they were so distressed that they were not connecting with their passengers and that they were very concerned – that the whole system is unworkable because of these timetable changes.
The minister announced on 14 July in Bendigo, in the former Premier’s seat, that they were going to review the bus network. Indeed the former Premier – now – said in a media release on that day:
Whether it’s making it easier to get to work, getting the kids to school or getting to appointments, we want to hear how local buses can work better for Bendigo.
The acting minister said:
Regional communities deserve bus services that keep up with how they live, work and travel today.
Apparently it is good enough for Bendigo, particularly when the Premier’s seat was under threat from the Nationals’ Andrew Lethlean, but it is not good enough for the people of Latrobe Valley who are really in distress about this. So I call on the minister, if she is fair dinkum about regional communities deserving bus services that keep up with how they live, work and travel, to do the same thing that they are going to do in Bendigo, apparently, in Gippsland and particularly in Latrobe Valley so stakeholders, bus drivers, community and disability groups can actually get a service that supports them so that people can use our bus services effectively and get them home, to work and to appointments in a good order.