This petition by #Support Melbourne Airport Rail Link draws the attention of the House in relation to the Melbourne Airport Rail Link infrastructure investment imperative. MARL should have been built in 1970. It will drastically improve the lives of the community by addressing their unmet needs for sustainable public transport solutions that connect the City of Melbourne to Melbourne Airport with direct tunnel link to stations at Victoria University Footscray Park campus, Highpoint Shopping Centre, the Defence Housing site in Maribyrnong and Milleara Mall.  It will bring huge social, economic and environmental benefits to all Victorians, domestic and international students, domestic and international air travellers. It will improve the productivity of business and industry by strengthening and extending their supply chain. There are three main drivers for MARL. First, the runaway population growth of Melbourne’s north-west and the poor infrastructure to cater for this growth especially rail. Second, the projected growth of passenger numbers of Melbourne Airport from 34 million in 2016 to 60 million in 2033. The planning for the airport rail is an integral part of the bigger solution to Melbourne’s wider congestion problem. Third, there is growing legitimate community and business concern about poor infrastructure planning in support of resilient and sustainable urban rail projects in badly neglected areas in the MARL corridor. 

We therefore ask the House to commit to the rapid funding and implementation of the Melbourne Airport Rail Link by making it a top priority infrastructure project in the Federal Budget and Forward Estimates.