Extract from Hansard

4/15/2021 Parliament of Victoria Question: 11923 ADJOURNMENT MATTER — Mr Hodgett to ask the Minister for Public Transport — I wish to raise the matter of the lack of low floor trams on so many of Melbourne's tram routes. I seek action from the Minister for Public Transport to inform the community when it can expect to see accessible trams on these routes. Labor has boasted that 41 of the E class trams, with their numerous unresolved defects as highlighted in the Interfleet report that was on the front page of the Herald Sun, are now operating on routes 11 and 96 and soon on route 86. However, many more routes, such as Melbourne's longest route, route 75 to Vermont South, along with the 48 to Balwyn North, the 3, 3A, 64 and 67 down St Kilda Road to Malvern East, Brighton East and Carnegie respectively, the 78 along the iconic Chapel Street from Balaclava and Prahran to North Richmond, the 57 to west Maribyrnong, the 82 between Footscray and Moonee Ponds, the 59 to Airport West and the 55 - soon to be 58 - from the Domain interchange to west Coburg, continue to lack a single, low floor tram. This not only disadvantages commuters in suburbs like Ascot Vale, Burwood, Caulfield South and Prahran but also visitors to major hospitals such as the Royal Children's Hospital in Flemington Road. In addition, with summer coming up, routes like 3, 64 and 67 to the south eastern suburbs hardly ever have air conditioned trams as the B2 class that have air conditioning are a small minority of the fleet at Glen Huntly depot. This is compounded by numerous so called short workings, where trams reverse prior to their timetabled terminus, ensuring commuters wait longer or have to walk. Ignoring commuters in the south eastern and eastern suburbs who, as the community ages, need low floor trams is typical of Labor. The minister must explain when travellers can expect to see low floor trams on these many routes. The action I seek from the Minister for Public Transport, who is in the house, is for her to inform the community when it can expect to see accessible trams on these routes. Answer: Extract from Hansard: In response to the matter raised by the member for Croydon, it is great to hear the member for Croydon talking about trams. Trams are such a wonderful part of our public transport system, and he wanted to know when the further rollout of the low-floor accessible trams would happen more broadly across the network. By way of update, we are seeing the E-class trams. They are a terrific tram, made at the Bombardier factory in Dandenong, and they are churning them off the production line. That is because the former Brumby Labor government put in an order for 50 E-class trams, and then the current Andrews Labor government put in an order for an additional 20. Well may you ask what happened during that period of time in between. I am disappointed to tell you, Deputy Speaker, that unfortunately there was not an order for these bigger, longer, more accessible trams placed during the period of time in which the member for Croydon was in government. Indeed he sat at the cabinet table for a while, but I welcome his newfound fondness and support for the E-class trams, because they are a really important part of our network. It is a real commitment of mine to see our public transport system become as accessible as it possibly can. Whether it is for people with mobility issues or for parents who are carrying children and using prams and strollers and things, it is about making sure the system is as accessible as it possibly can be. If I recall correctly, in his contribution the member listed when these trams will be coming to a number of routes. I will have to come back to the member on some of those in terms of timing, but I can inform him about one of the areas he spoke of in his contribution. He wanted to know when the low-floor trams might be coming to the Royal Children's Hospital area. I have been particularly keen to get the E-class trams running along this corridor. Obviously it is a corridor that services the hospital precinct. Many families need to get access to the hospital precinct and obviously many families with children need to access the Royal Children's. I have had the experience myself where I have turned up at a tram stop with the double stroller, tried to get on the tram that came along and unfortunately could not because it was not an accessible tram for me and my family. But the member for Croydon might have missed the recent news that we put out on this and some work that we are doing on creating the new route 58 that will pick up the current routes 55 and 8. And of course route 55 travels past the Royal Children's Hospital area. We will be deploying the E-class trams onto this route from next year, so it is an important priority. https://qon.parliament.vic.gov.au/PARLIAMENT/General/QoN/PROD/qonarchive.nsf/printAllQuestions.xsp 1/10 4/15/2021 Parliament of Victoria Additional answer received on 22 November 2016: This Government is currently delivering 70 new large low-floor E-Class trams to the network. These large low-floor trams are being deployed where demand is greatest, to Routes 96, 11 and soon 86. The delivery of these low-floor trams is allowing us to retire the older, smaller, high-floor trams. St Kilda Road/Swanston Street is a good example where the introduction of new larger trams is allowing the retirement of the older small high-floor tram fleet. The new Route 58 which was recently announced is another example of this Government providing capacity and accessibility where it is needed, with the new route operating low- floor trams which will service the South East suburbs (Toorak Road) and the Flemington Road Hospital precinct (Royal Children's, Royal Women's and Royal Melbourne hospitals). The roll out of new fleet enabled by the order of E-Class trams allows for larger and more accessible trams to spread out across the city. I can also confirm that no new trams were ordered during the four years of the Baillieu- Napthine Liberal Governments. Hon Jacinta Allan MP Member for Bendigo East Minister for Public Transport Attachments: No Attachments Answer Published Date: 22/11/2016 Question: 11924 ADJOURNMENT MATTER — Ms Graley to ask the Minister for Health — My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Health and concerns Casey Hospital. The action I seek is that the minister ensure further support is provided to improve staff and patient safety in the emergency department of Casey Hospital, an outstanding hospital that works valiantly to meet the needs and demands of our fast growing local community. The Andrews Labor government is already investing $135 million into a massive expansion of the hospital. The expansion will deliver 160 new beds, 4 additional operating theatres, an intensive care unit and a day surgery unit. I know local residents are excited about the project and I look forward to working with them as part of the community advisory group for this much needed project. I recently met with the hardworking team at Monash Health to discuss this project and any issues they may be facing at Casey Hospital. They raised with me their concerns about behaviourally challenged patients that may be angry or upset. Current practice at Casey Hospital is to deal with behaviourally challenged patients by placing them in a single room located in the middle of the emergency department. Ambulance and police staff can only access this room by taking patients through the main emergency department where patients are waiting for treatment. To avoid placing staff and patients in the emergency department at risk, Monash Health is proposing to create a behavioural assessment room. This room will enable staff to manage a person's behaviour by removing the patient from the public area and placing them into an allocated room at the front of the emergency department. There will also be direct access to this room from the ambulance bay area. To ensure their proposal becomes a reality, Monash Health have applied for a grant from the Health Service Violence Prevention Fund, a fund set up by this government to address violence in healthcare settings and reduce violence against hospital staff, a really worthy project. I urge the minister to ensure that Monash Health receive the support they need to construct their behavioural assessment room. Answer: Extract from Hansard: I am delighted to respond to the matter raised by the member for Narre Warren South, who does a terrific job advocating for her community and who has done sensational things around Casey Hospital, particularly in her capacity as chair of the community advisory committee in respect of the expansion that is currently underway. There is no doubt that she is a sensational advocate for that project. We have established a $20 million violence prevention fund in recognition of the fact that we believe that occupational violence and aggression towards people who work in the healthcare https://qon.parliament.vic.gov.au/PARLIAMENT/General/QoN/PROD/qonarchive.nsf/printAllQuestions.xsp 2/10 4/15/2021 Parliament of Victoria sector has been significantly under-reported. Perhaps there has not been the focus provided to this particular issue.

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