Meet The Minister The Hon Ben Carroll MP

This event was held on Thursday, 30 September 2021.

The Committee recently welcomed The Honourable Ben Carroll MP, Victorian Minister for Public Transport and Minister for Roads and Road Safety to update members on the Victorian Government’s vision for Melbourne’s transport system.

Minister Carroll reflected on recent pandemic-induced challenges and expressed pride that Melbourne’s transport system has continued to operate in a COVIDSafe way throughout.

High on the government’s agenda is implementing Victoria’s Bus Plan, part of which will include all new buses to be zero emission vehicles from 2025. Achieving zero emissions across the state’s bus fleet will be a vital component of the government’s strategy to meet its legislated commitment of net zero emissions by 2050.

Minister Carroll was joined by Infrastructure Victoria CEO, Michel Masson, and Keolis Downer CEO, Julien Dehornoy on a panel moderated by Leanne Edwards, the Committee’s Director, Policy and Research, to discuss some key considerations for Melbourne’s transport system, including:

• Greater transparency around transport network planning could increase community and investor confidence.
• Integrating transport services across multiple modes will enable a more seamless experience for passengers, while ensuring an efficient, city-wide transport system.
• Better data utilisation could mean that information gathered in real time translates into a more responsive network, where added capacity can be injected into the transport system when required.
• Pursuing an ambitious active transport strategy could reduce motorised transport, leading to less transport network congestion, less greenhouse gas emissions and better community health outcomes.
• Despite more people working from home, over the long-term people are unlikely to travel less but their travel patterns may change. Transport network pricing will help shape some of these patterns.
• Investment in Electric Vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure with a corresponding integrated payments system could fast-track EV uptake.

Minister Carroll confirmed that the Victorian Government was in the process of addressing many of these issues.

Last year, the Committee released Transporting Melbourne, which calls on the Victorian Government to produce and publish a comprehensive integrated transport plan for Melbourne. Considerations in an integrated transport plan include many of the topics that were discussed in the forum, including demand management, technology, infrastructure and economic development and land-use planning. We will continue to advocate for an integrated transport plan and the components of the plan.

The Committee thanks Minister Carroll for his participation, along with Michel and Julien for their insights.

For information on the Committee’s transport agenda, contact Brett Van Duppen at bvanduppen@melbourne.org.au.