Daniel Andrews in Ballarat: AusNet, Bridge Mall, Commonwealth Games, buses, trains, council questions

Read his full responses below.

When will we see construction?

You'll see work beginning, work will be under way later on this year, when it comes to Eureka Stadium, when it comes to the athletes' village and other important facilities.

So we're in deep discussions with the council, Commonwealth Games Organising Committee, land owners, builders, surveyors. There's a big, big team and they're all working as hard as they can. So you'll see some really clear progress before the end of this year. Just as planned, just as we need to, because we're only three years off.

How much will councils have to pay?

That's to be negotiated. That's to be worked through.

READ MORE: Ballarat mayor reassures Games a balancing act while Geelong cries poor

What are you doing about it?

I've seen a bit of commentary from the newly elected upper house Liberal member and you know at the end of the day, you can play politics with these things or you can be focused on supporting community to be safe.

And the way you do that is to support Victoria Police and we've provided Victoria Police with record funding, they've got record recruits, the best of new equipment, and no one should - least of all very newly elected Liberal MPs - no one should doubt the resolve of Victoria Police to keep the community safe.

What about moving the bus stop?

I'm not sure whether they committed to do that at the election.

At the end of the day, we're not so much interested in the kind of politics of this.

And you know bagging Ballarat doesn't do anyone any good I don't think.

I think that people can be very proud in this community - it's a strong community, it's a connected community.

Ballarat's back, Ballarat's got a really bright future, so I think we should support our police, not be critical of them.

And we should support a proud community like Ballarat, not be just this incessantly negative voice. I just don't think that does anybody any good.

So no one should doubt Victoria Police's resolve, and if you're doing the wrong thing down there, you'll be caught and you will be dealt with.

Will we see more police allocated there?

We have more police than New South Wales, across the board.

Where they're allocated, how they're allocated, that's a matter for the chief commissioner.

But I'm sure Police Media would be happy to follow that up if there's anything beyond what I've said that they might want to add in.

I would just say, there was a $700,000 community safety grant for the city that we provided not that long ago and I'd be confident that that's been well deployed by the council.

Again, getting into a political argument about these things doesn't make anyone safer.

We should just get on and do the work and we should back our police - not criticise them.

READ MORE: MP demands police action on 'dodgy' Bridge Mall

There's been a lot of backlash about the proposed transmission line route ...

Our role in this is basically an Environmental Effects Statement, an EES statement.

We're not the proponent of this project, we're there to assess it under very detailed, important criteria and that assessment will be a genuine assessment.

When will the Environmental Effects Statement be released?

I haven't got an exact timeline, I can get you one if there's one published already.

But the other point too is that I know that AEMO are back out with the community having a whole lot of additional consultation, which I think is very, very important.

I don't think they've covered themselves in glory with the way they engaged with the community at the start of this. I've been very clear about that a number of times.

This has not been well handled. At least that's being acknowledged now. And I know that AEMO is re-engaging with a number of local communities that are impacted by this.

But our role is the EES process only and I just want to recommit and reconfirm for every affected resident - and everyone across Ballarat and the region - that'll be a fair dinkum process.

So that's not a rubber stamp, that's a proper, legitimate process that will put any proposal through its paces, as it should.

So, I'm not going to get ahead of that, other than to say it is a genuine process and no one should think that that's anything other than that.

AEMO's re-engaging, AusNet I think's acknowledged that they should have done better, we'll just have to wait and see how this thing unfolds.

The final thing I'd say though is we have just confirmed, mirroring what New South Wales does, $8000 per kilometre over a 25-year period.

So, that's exactly the same arrangement that NSW has and we think that's fair.

What about payments for neighbours?

No, that's a direct payment to those whose land those assets are on.

Is there going to be anything for any other community members that are affected?

Not at this stage, no.

I'm sure there might be proposals and submissions put in and arguments run but our focus has been those who, where there's the most direct impact on their land.

Beyond that, we should just wait and see how that EES process goes.

And I know it's deeply frustrating and I know people have many views and they want clarity and they want certainty, they want decisions made quickly and I absolutely get that.

But making the right decision is very important and that takes time.

But the state needs this project to go ahead for energy security?

Well, we need to make sure that when we generate electricity, we can move it right across the state.

And some of this nonsense about 'oh well it's only going to Melbourne' - no, we're running a grid, we're running a network across the whole state and regional communities benefit from that too.

So, as we move to 100 per cent renewable electricity, we're going to have many different transmission projects.

The key point is this: they should be through a rigorous process and if we have anything to do with it, they will.

But those who are the private proponents of these projects need to learn from this example, you've got to engage better, you've got to be respectful, and you've got to take communities with you.

And hopefully, with acknowledgments about poor practice at the beginning of this process, the whole sector can learn.

And, indeed, on this one, they can try and strike the right balance, and that's what some of that re-engagement's about.

READ MORE: Farmers say powerlines payout doesn't add up

City of Ballarat reckons they've got a massive staff shortage and they can't spend the money they've got on capital projects. Do regional councils need additional support to keep up as costs increase?

I'm not aware of any specific proposals but obviously, local governments are an independent tier government.

We have put rate capping in place, but they can charge above the cap, if they can demonstrate to the Essential Services Commission and to their local community that the money is going to be purposed properly.

Beyond that, our door's always open to the minister for local governments, continuously talking to councils about all sorts of challenges.

And we know that every sector - not just local government but every sector, across the economy is struggling to find staff.

I'm not aware of any specific issues that the council has raised with us. But I'm sure councillors are never shy, they're usually pretty quick to ask for funding if they think we might better help them out. So I'd be confident they will do that.

READ MORE: Staff shortages continue to plague council

I have seen some commentary about that. We constantly review bus schedules, timetables and how many services we run, whether we can better connect between different modes of transport, bus or train. We are always reviewing that.

We have a budget every year, we made some election commitments around transport - we will honour all of those. The first step towards that will be in May in the state budget. I am happy to get Ben Carroll to come back to you if there are any further details he wants to provide.

I know we have added some additional night time services, which I think have been welcomed, but beyond that I have no bus announcements to make today, other than that review is not a set and forget, or you do it and come back five years later.

We are constantly reviewing how we can make the public transport system better and better. There are costs involved with that. People getting to where they need to go, that is not a cost, that is a really important investment.

READ MORE: Council on board for Ballarat bus network review

There are a couple of issues there and I will get Jacinta Allan to come back to you in more detail, because there are a series of documents that go through this in some detail.

This is about sequentially, logically doing a big package of works. You have got to get the first stage done before you get to the second.

You have to get rid of the crossings, then you can electrify, then you can duplicate and then you can upgrade signalling and track. You have to make the platforms longer so you can run more trains and bigger train sets. We made commitments to the early stages of that work just before the election last year.

Obviously we are privileged to be elected so we aren't going to waste any more time. Getting rid of those level crossings is a really crucial part of this. You can't run more trains if you can't get rid of those crossings, otherwise the boom gates will be down throughout the whole peak.

There is some documentation about this which goes through each of the sequences. I am more than happy to get Jacinta Allan's office to provide you something there.

I wish we could do it all at once, but sadly you just can't. You can't run the line and completely change the line at the same time.

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