2026-05-22
The Greens say Labor has no excuse to make Victorians pay for public transport at the end of May and should extend free public transport like Tasmania has done.
It comes after figures from The Department of Transport and Planning show the biggest surge in public transport uptake since 2019, pre COVID.
An independent costing from the Parliamentary Budget Office estimates that making public transport free permanently would cost $940 million a year, a tiny fraction of what Labor has spent on private toll roads. It would also save Victorians more than $220 a month from their household bills.
The cost of just one road project, the North East Link alone could fund 25 years of free public transport.
The Greens called for free public transport in response to the fuel crisis in March, two weeks later the policy was introduced by the government.
It was reported in The Age today that Labor members have been pushing Jacinta Allan’s Labor government to make free public transport permanent. Yesterday Tasmania announced they would make public transport free for another 12 months.
Quotes attributable to Leader of the Victorian Greens, Ellen Sandell:
“The fuel crisis isn’t over, so why is Labor making Victorians pay for public transport again when Tasmania is keeping it free and Queenslanders only pay 50c?”
“Free public transport is an easy way to give some relief to everyday people and costs the government just a fraction of one of Labor’s toll road projects.”
“With free public transport, we’ve all had a taste of what life could be like under Greens policy. Don’t let Labor tell you we can’t afford to make free public transport permanent, we can if we make big corporations pay their fair share of tax. We can demand better.”