Youth future focus

Two members of the Suburban Rail Loop (SRL)’s youth panel reflect on their time providing feedback on the future of Victoria’s transport system.

By 2050, Melbourne will be a city of nine million people, the current size of London.

Growing with the people, the city is changing to accommodate the needs of the future population. 

As both a transport and urban planning project, Suburban Rail Loop (SRL) will deliver better transport, connecting suburbs and linking every major train service from the Frankston Line, in the east, to the Werribee Line in the west, via the Melbourne Airport.

SRL will support the delivery of more homes on the doorstep of public transport, services, jobs, schools, parks and cafés, greater connecting Victorians to employment, hospitals, universities and one another.

As part of Victoria’s Big Build, the Victorian Government is building Suburban Rail Loop (SRL) East from Cheltenham to Box Hill.

To help guide the project in the right direction for future generations, young Victorians were given the opportunity to provide their feedback on the SRL East underground stations, through the SRL Youth Panel, established in early 2024.

Following an expressions of interest process, the SRL Youth Panel – a group of 13 members aged 18 to 24-years-old – have been meeting regularly since March, discussing how best to increase housing supply and choice across Melbourne.

Two of those members included medical students Arvin Banerjee, a 24-year-old from Mount Waverley and Sophie Skuza, a 22-year-old from Clayton.

Both Sophie and Arvin came across the callout for the youth panel on Facebook and with an existing passion for change, both jumped at the opportunity to help.

Banerjee’s passion for improving the quality of life for Victorians and his desire to freely meet with family is what sparked his application to the youth panel.

“The ability to get around and easily meet up with friends, family and the community is important and the SRL is a big part of that,” says Banerjee. “Everyone is really excited for the Sydney Metro, but I am looking forward to the SRL which is the Melbourne equivalent of what it can provide.”

The SRL youth panel is one of many projects Skuza has worked on in addition to her many advocacies through university.

“When I saw this opportunity I jumped on it because I love the thought of being able to shape change,” says Skuza. 

“A lot of young people, including myself, have a lot of concerns around climate change and housing, so knowing this project is aiming to address those topics is important to me, and I wanted to be able to have a say in that.”

The panel discussions provided an opportunity for the community to have more in-depth conversations and provide feedback on a range of topics.

This feedback will be used to inform the draft structure plans and planning scheme amendments that will be exhibited later this year or in early 2025, when communities will have another opportunity to provide feedback.

Each meeting highlighted different discussion points, which Banerjee says correlated with the broad strokes of the project and what the panel wanted SRL to provide.

“One of the things we did was craft a vision for what we want the entire corridor of SRL to look like,” he says.

“Most things we touched on revolved around stations. We discussed how important it was for stations to have their own unique identity.

“SRL should develop and increase the attractiveness of the precincts around each station. For example, Anzac Station has been designed well, making the station itself an attractive place to be in and visit.”

Skuza says the value of cars within society dominated most of the conversation topics.

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“We often discussed car spaces provided with apartments and how many cars we want to see on our roads,” she says.

“Some believed we should aim to remove as many cars as possible off the road and discourage car use as much as possible. Whereas some believed cars are important in our society, and that we should continue to promote their use.

“Other notable topics of conversation included increasing the amount of green space around stations, the importance of having diverse housing options, as well as increased access to bus services and tram extensions.”

The future of housing is a question that plays on the minds of many, including both Skuza and Banerjee.

“Precinct development, zoning and housing is a particular concern for me,” says Skuza.

“I feel a lot of anxiety around finding housing in the future. But I do take a lot of comfort in knowing that the aim of this project is to help develop housing around these precincts and increase access to housing options for future generations.”

Similarly to Skuza, Banerjee worries if he’ll live in the same place he grew up.

“How can we grow up where our family, friends and community are without pushing other people out as well?” he says.

For this reason, Banerjee says the panel wishes to increase the housing supply by densifying housing around the SRL stations. 

“We also discussed how many car parks should be supplied with apartments,” he says.

“Some of us thought that there should be less to encourage people to bike and to walk in their local areas. Whereas some people thought that there should be ample car parks for people to have the ability to drive or use the SRL.”

With the project due for completion in 10 years’ time, Skuza says it is important for today’s youth to be involved in planning for the next generation.

“Once completed it will connect a lot of universities, which is something I have struggled with as a medical student,” she says.

“I’ve had a lot of trouble commuting to placement at different hospitals, so having the train line would make a huge difference because it will connect different hospital precincts like Eastern Health and Monash Health.

“SRL has the potential impact to mitigate the effects of climate change by taking cars off the road and that is something that will predominantly affect future generations.”

Although the number of attendees differed weekly, Banerjee says the diverse group of 13 provided a range of opinions and discussions.

“We had a lot of diversity with gender, location and demographics,” he says.

“Some of the panel had lived in the city for a long time, some were from the outer suburbs, and some moved from country Victoria.

“No matter where we were from, we all had similar experiences and frustrations with current public transport and the general road infrastructure systems, which is why we wanted to contribute to the SRL.”

The panels’ common goal to better the state’s future set the precedent for respecting each other’s differing opinions, which Banerjee says promoted healthy debate.

“Panel members were able to self-regulate how much they were putting their hands up to talk, but we also had two great panel adjudicators who helped move the discussion along,” he says.

“We had differing opinions but given that we all have a similar goal, it was generally not difficult to get the conversation going.

“We all remembered we were there because we loved the idea of SRL, and we bonded over the opportunity for positive change.”

Lissa van Camp, Suburban Rail Loop Authority Executive General Manager, Land, Planning, Environment and Sustainability, says a key part of managing the future growth of the SRL is incorporating the community’s perspective.

“The Youth Panel is a unique chance for young Victorians to help shape the future of our city by having their say on plans for more housing, businesses and green spaces around the six new SRL East stations,” she says.

“Today’s young people will see the full benefits of Suburban Rail Loop.

“More housing choice around the stations means homebuyers have a better chance of owning a place near where they grew up – and more options for work, education and healthcare nearby.”