Tony Zappia (Makin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Overland train service that runs between Melbourne and Adelaide commenced in 1887 and until 1926 was known as the Adelaide Express. The history and significance of The Overland was recently documented by railway historian John Wilson, who last month released his third railway book The Overland-a social history. The Overland is currently a twice-weekly service operated by Journey Beyond, formerly Great Southern Rail. For the past five years, since this federal government cut subsidies to pensioners, veterans and seniors, the service has relied on Victorian and South Australian government subsidies. Those subsidies have now stopped, with the South Australian Marshall government ending its financial assistance in 2018 and refusing to extend it, while the Victorian government continued funding the service until this year. The future of The Overland is up in the air, with COVID-19 adding to that uncertainty. If the service was discontinued, it would be a short-sighted, penny-pinching decision by the two state governments and the federal government, particularly given the modest subsidy required and when nationally there is a revival in building rail networks. Aerospace engineer Edwin Michell has outlined a proposal for modernising The Overland that would turn it into an attractive, viable service at a cost of around $50 million. I don't know if his proposal has been independently costed, but at a time when hundreds of millions of dollars are being put into other national infrastructure projects, at the very least the proposal should be properly assessed by governments.

This Friday between 1 and 2 pm a Zoom community summit will be held for people, many from country regions in Victoria and South Australia, that would be affected by the loss of The Overland. Amongst those people will be author John Wilson, Mayor Mark Radford from the Rural City of Horsham, Mayor Bruce Meyer from the West Wimmera Shire, Councillor Mat O'Brien from the Rural City of Murray Bridge, representatives of the Tatiara District Council and Margaret Millington of the rural community of Nhill.

The purpose of the summit, which has been referred to as the Serviceton Summit, is to launch a public campaign to save The Overland. For South Australia the loss of The Overland would be devastating. It would be another serious blow to South Australia's image, public confidence and status. I call on the South Australian government to work with the Victorian government, the federal government and Journey Beyond to secure the future of The Overland. And I say to Premier Steven Marshall: just for once, show some leadership.