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Subject: Thurs.17.3.22 daily digest

Roderick

 "220317Th-Melbourne'HeraldSun'-bike.lanes-c-ss.jpg" emu
 "220317Th-Melbourne'HeraldSun'-bike.lanes-e.jpg" tram
"220317Th-Melbourne'HeraldSun'-Craigieburn.station.jpg"
"220317Th-Melbourne'HeraldSun'-trams-E6007-E6039-ss.jpg"

"220317Th-realcommercial-SarahSandsHotel-a-s.jpg"  tram

video: https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/train-disruptions-continue/vi-AAV7597?ocid=msedgntp [rain & floods]

Thurs.17.3.22 Metro Twitter
Flinders St: still with a lane closed for tunnel works? [reopened by July]
Buses replace trains Dandenong - Pakenham until  the last train of Mon 21 Mar (works).
9.46 Werribee line: Buses replace trains Newport - Laverton (an equipment fault near Newport).  buses will take over 60 minutes to arrive. Consider alternatives via the PTV journey planner.
- 10.36 buses are in operation, adding travel time.
- 11.04 Trains resuming, with major delays.
9.49 & 10.26 Williamstown line: Major delays (an equipment fault near Newport).  Trains are moving through Newport, with major delays. Trains may terminate/originate at intermediate locations [which ones?].
- 11.03 Replacement buses are in operation, adding travel time.
- 11.45 Trains resuming, with major delays.
22.00 Heading home from AFL? Plan ahead and check out your best options for a fast getaway!  [All the usual self-congratulary follow on].
22.40 Buses replace trains Sydenham Watergardens - Sunbury (an equipment fault near SW).  Buses ordered, ETA 45min.  Consider alternatives.
- 22.50  Buses ETA 45min.
- 23.15 Trains resume, with minor delays.  First trains: 22.29 ex Flinders St; 23.26 ex Sunbury.

Tree change exodus sparks regional housing crunch. Matt Johnston March 16, 2022
Tree and sea changers have left major cities in droves during the pandemic, sparking concerns of a looming housing crisis in regional areas.
video: Stamp duty rises on regional moves. Throughout the pandemic the shift to outer suburban, regional and coastal areas around the country has been a key trend among buyers, says John Healy from realestate.com.au. The move has meant prices in many of those “lifestyle areas” have surged, but so too have stamp duty costs for buyers looking to make a move. “Those looking to make that COVID-led lifestyle shift, or a sea or tree change, will do so now with a stamp duty burden attached to it as a combination really of median property prices and stamp duty bracket creep,” he said. Mr Healy said the suburbs of Kembla Grange in New South Wales and Warana in Queensland both saw stamp duty grow over 100 per cent. Kembla Grange had a jump of 173 per cent since last year and Warana stamp duty has increased 109 per cent. Sponsored content by realestate.com.au.
The regional “renaissance” caused by tree and sea changers departing major Australian cities during the pandemic has sparked concerns about a looming housing crisis.
A new report by federal advisory body Infrastructure Australia shows that the first three months of last year featured “the largest internal migration on record” as work-from-home habits became entrenched and families sought new lifestyles.
According to IA experts the trend is set to stay, leading to economic opportunities for regional centres but increasing challenges to keep up with infrastructure needs.
Their Regional Strengths and Infrastructure Gapsreport, released on Thursday for consultation, provides recommendations for each region to leverage assets as they grow, and found five common challenges that should be addressed.
Housing was the lead issue, with existing residents buffeted by affordability woes and supply constraints hampering the attraction and retention of workers needed to deal with the boom.
Other major issues include:
• Water security to meet industry and agriculture needs as population grows;
• Poor mobile and broadband coverage, magnified by the pandemic;
• Access to education and skills training to attract and retain talent;
• Quality and connected public transport.
There has been a 200 per cent increase in people moving to regional areas.
In Victoria – which was split into five non-metro areas of Barwon South West, Gippsland, Grampians, Hume and Loddon Mallee – strengths for building on include agriculture, renewable energy, the natural environment and tourism, and education and research.
Each area has gaps to be addressed, with the report to be sent to government, communities, and industry for consultation.
Across the nation “55 per cent of regions identified housing as a gap”, driven by a 200 per cent increase in people moving to regional areas in 2019-20 and “the largest internal migration on record” in the March quarter of 2021.
Chief executive of Infrastructure Australia, Romilly Madew, said a shift to the regions was “accelerated by the pandemic” and compounded pressure on stretched assets and networks.
Infrastructure Australia’s policy chief, Peter Colacino, said some regional areas had dealt with pressures well by improving land release processes and planning approvals, but others struggled.
Housing woes were often double-edged, with existing residents struggling for affordable options and supply problems locking out skilled workers required to keep pace with growth. Pandemic-driven demographic changes were also likely to continue for some time, he said.
“We have seen a fundamental change to the way people are working,” he said.
“What that’s done is put pressure on housing, as well as local infrastructure provision — whether that’s roads or water or schools.
“It’s changed the dynamic of communities.”
The report says that “many people have found new places to not only visit, but to live” and this was causing a major shift in demographics.
“These population shifts bring with them the need to develop new service models, and pressure to deliver infrastructure services on par, or comparable to, the expectations of large cities.”
<www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/tree-change-exodus-sparks-regional-housing-crunch/news-story/525ce732cdbde4dfc064230fef509a1b>

SA Greens push for free public transport. Tim Dornin AAP Thu, 17 March 2022
The SA Liberals and Labor should commit to free public transport for everyone, the Greens say. Credit: AAP
The Greens have renewed calls for free public transport across South Australia in response to soaring petrol prices.
With petrol easily topping $2 a litre, the Greens say the Labor and Liberal parties should commit to free public transport for everyone after Saturday's state election.
"Free public transport would provide an alternative to those struggling to deal with the skyrocketing cost of petrol as well as reducing congestion and carbon emissions," upper house MP Robert Simms said.
Mr Simms said pushing to improve the state's public transport network and encouraging active transport would continue to be key priorities for the party.
At present, only holders of a Seniors Card can travel free on public transport in SA and then only between 9am and 3pm.
Labor has pledged to extend free travel to pensioners at all times if elected.
<thewest.com.au/politics/sa-greens-push-for-free-public-transport-c-6088675>

Craigieburn station: Melbourne City Mission employee Aroon Paul pleads guilty.  Hugo Timms March 17, 2022 Maribyrnong Leader
​A teenage girl is now too scared to catch public transport after a father’s sickening act on a Craigieburn train.
Aroon Paul, 46, pleaded guilty to performing a sexual act in public after he touched himself inappropriately in front of a teenager in Craigieburn in March last year.
A young woman has been left traumatised after a man performed a sex act while sitting beside her on a Craigieburn train.
Aroon Paul, 46, pleaded guilty to the offence in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, with the court hearing that the young woman remains too traumatised to catch public transport nearly a year on from the event.
Police told the court that shortly after 12.30pm on March 21, 2021, Paul got on the train at Craigieburn railway station and sat next to the victim — a fact the 19-year-old found “strange” due to there being many empty seats on the train.
Paul, an employee of disability support agency Melbourne City Mission, began to rub his left hand up and down his leg and touch his groin with his right hand, police told the court.
The victim, who was on her way to school and had planned to get off at Southern Cross, moved to a different part of the train, only to be followed by Paul, who touched her with his elbow after moving slightly further to his left.
Minutes later the victim got off the train and reported the incident to police.
In a victim impact statement the young woman, who now lives in Tasmania, said activities once normal to her had become a significant source of anxiety because of Paul’s actions.
“Melbourne doesn’t feel safe or comfortable,” she said.
She said that Paul’s actions had had a significant financial impact on her due to the ongoing costs of seeing a psychologist and commuting via Uber and taxi services.
Isabelle Skaburkis, for the defence, said her client had recently finished a work shift and been drinking heavily since shortly after 10am.
Ms Skaburkis said that the combination of a Covid lockdown, combined with fear over the safety of his family in India, led him to behave in a hammer that “shocks even himself”.
“If this had happened to his wife and daughter, he would be very upset,” she said.
Ms Skaburkis said Paul, who arrived in Australia from India in 2006, was using alcohol as a “maladaptive coping strategy” and did not recall the event.
Magistrate Stephen Ballek said he found that assertion “hard to believe”.
Mr Ballek said that he did not understand how a drinking problem and stress over his family in India led him to sexually assault a young woman on a train.
“I regard this as extremely serious offending,” he said.
“There is another victim here, and that’s your wife,” Mr Ballek told Paul.
He sentenced Paul to a 12-month adjourned undertaking and fined him $700.
<www.heraldsun.com.au/leader/north-west/craigieburn-train-station-melbourne-city-mission-employee-aroon-paul-pleads-guilty/news-story/22fbdc6930c909970769c46cb80e46c6>

Extension cord connecting Victoria to Snowy 2.0 could be delayed. Tom Minear March 17, 2022
A five-year delay in connecting Victoria to Australia’s largest renewable energy project has been labelled “Russian roulette”.
video: Snowy Mountain Scheme 2.0 plays 'important role' in electricity prices. Energy Minister Angus Taylor says the Snowy Mountain Scheme was “an iconic engineering project in Australian history”.
Victoria will be cut off from Australia’s biggest renewable energy project for five years if the energy market operator follows through on its plan to delay building a $2.9bn extension cord.
From 2026, the Snowy 2.0 pumped hydro project is expected to be able to provide enough energy to power three million homes for a week.
But construction on the poles and wires to plug it into Victoria will start only in the same year under a proposal from the market operator that delays its completion from 2027 to 2031.
Snowy Hydro Limited boss Paul Broad blasted the idea, warning it would be “dangerous for consumers and industry” by risking higher power prices, more blackouts and slower decarbonisation.
He accused the market ­operator of “playing Russian roulette with (national electricity market) reliability and efficiency” after three years of “glacial progress” on transmission upgrades.
The market operator’s latest draft integrated system plan, released in December, pushed back the timeline for VNI West – the new interconnector between Victoria and NSW.
Plans to delay the building of a $2.9bn extension cord will cut Victoria off from the Snowy 2.0 project for five years. Picture: Alex Ellinghausen
Its 2018 plan had recommended VNI West be completed “as soon as practicable” by 2027-28 because it was the “preferred option to maintain system security and reliability in Victoria”, particularly with the impending closure of more coal-fired power stations.
Victorian Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio said she supported the new draft plan, and declared the state government’s investments in renewable energy and transmission upgrades would “ensure that Victorians continue to enjoy reliable and low-cost power supply”.
But Mr Broad questioned why the market operator’s 2018 assessment had changed given VNI West was the “single best asset for shoring up system security”.
He said it needed to be commissioned as soon as possible to maximise the benefits of Snowy 2.0 and unlock billions of dollars of investment in other Victorian renewable projects that could tap into the expanded transmission network.
The market operator’s plan forecast 60 per cent of power currently by produced by coal-fired power stations would be shut down by the end of the decade. Pressure is now mounting on the market operator to re-jig the plan before it is locked in by the end of June, especially given the retirement of three coal-fired generators have been fast-tracked since the draft was released.
More Coverage
Tsunami of cash to slash carbon: $2.6 trillion for investment
Shell lifts clout with wind farm deal
<www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/extension-cord-connecting-victoria-to-snowy-20-could-be-delayed/news-story/0436fabaca4c1ee6b87ebcbae6b8640f>

Fresh allegations against RTBU tram boss.  Kieran Rooney March 17, 2022
RTBU tram boss Tarik Koc is being investigated over allegations he used union funds to pay legal bills he racked up while fighting claims of workplace bullying.
Melbourne’s tram union boss is being investigated over claims he used union funds to pay his personal legal bills. Picture: Daniel Pockett
A union official representing Victoria’s tram drivers is being probed by the Registered Organisations Commission over allegations membership funds were used for private legal bills.
RTBU tram boss Tarik Koc this week also called in sick moments before he faced internal hearings over allegations of workplace bullying and inappropriate behaviour.
In 2021, Mr Koc was asked to resign from the union after being accused of calling a staff member “sweet lips” and using the term “blackfella”.
Since then he has been locked in a protracted battle with his own union to save his job, with the RTBU’s national office launching its own investigation process.
A complaint against Mr Koc also attracted the attention of the ROC, who have asked if he used union funds to pay his personal legal bill.
In a letter to multiple union officials, the commission said a protected disclosure had been made detailing three allegations involving Mr Koc’s and requested more details to assist their investigation.
These allegations include that the tram division secretary racked up a personal legal bill which was later authorised as an expense.
The other two complaints focused on whether financial members were restricted from accessing records whether minutes of meetings were no recorded and published.
Herald Sun is not suggesting the allegations are true, only that they were being investigated.
After a lengthy battle to avoid an internal disputes process, Mr Koc was due to face hearings by the RTBU’s national officials on Tuesday after he required them conduct hearings in person.
But when he was due to appear, his lawyers said that he was unwell and the process would have to be pushed back until May.
The move sparked a backlash within the union, because senior figures had flown from across the country to attend the meeting.
In a letter to members, RTBU national secretary Mark Diamond updated the union about the saga.
“All 16 members of the national executive who were required to attend, flew to Melbourne and were available for the hearing,” he wrote.
“Shortly before the hearing was to commence the National Executive was advised that Tarik was unable to attend due to illness.”
Mr Koc did not respond when contacted by the Herald Sun.
It’s understood Tarik Koc lodged allegations against RTBU state secretary Luba Grigorovitch with the ROC but this investigation has not continued.
More Coverage
RTBU tram boss rocked by bullying allegations
Yarra Trams pay deal revealed as dispute ends
<www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/fresh-allegations-against-rtbu-tram-boss/news-story/40b9edf2c8c0a00e825de9132e19c164>

Thurs.17.3.22 Melbourne 'Herald Sun'.  Geelong line on hold
COACHES will replace trains between Geelong and Southern Cross stations this weekend due to rail work.
Level crossing removal work at Deer Park and Ardeer will mean trains won't run on the Geelong line on March 19 and 20. Trains will continue to run between Warrnambool and Geelong stations.
A VLine spokesman said commuters should allow for up to 90 minutes extra travel time. Coaches would be a mix of express, semi-express and stopping all stations, he said.
Travellers with accessibility needs should call 1800 800 007 before travelling.

Thurs.17.3.22 Melbourne 'Herald Sun'.  Letters.
* SALLY is willy-nilly ripping up roads and putting in bike lanes. Yet here in Lara we can't even get a secured bike shed at the local railway station.