Vic Libs rebuff $2 train pledge criticism
![Opposition Leader Matthew Guy says internal polls show the Victorian state election will be close. (Joel Carrett/AAP PHOTOS)](https://images.thewest.com.au/publication/C-8497465/c2715ac0464968e7c9be585e59bf561246d731aa-16x9-x0y0w1280h720.jpg?imwidth=810&impolicy=wan_v3)
The Victorian Liberals have pushed back on criticism of their $2 public transport election pledge, as the party leader rebuffs concerns of another Labor "Danslide".
Holding a $2 coin as a prop on Monday, Opposition Leader Matthew Guy spruiked the party's flat daily public transport fare commitment announced at the weekend.
Under the four-year program, travel on metropolitan trains, trams and buses would be capped at $2 a day for adults and $1 for concession-card holders at an estimated cost of $1.3 billion.
The flat fee would apply to regional city and town services but not to trains and buses operated by V/Line, the state-owned network.
Labor said the Liberals had abandoned regional Victorians, referencing former premier Jeff Kennett's infamous description of areas outside Melbourne as the "toenails of the state".
"Under this scheme country passengers are being treated as second best," Minister for Transport Infrastructure Jacinta Allan said.
Mr Guy said the coalition would unveil a plan for V/Line passengers in coming weeks.
"We think that country Victorians should be rewarded too," he told reporters.
"The whole concept is to have the state confident about itself - getting people back to the CBD of Melbourne ... or big town centres like Traralgon or Geelong or Wodonga, Mildura."
Mr Guy worked in Mr Kennett's office as a researcher.
Labor has repeatedly tried to use the Kennett government's record of privatisation and public service cuts to tarnish Mr Guy's image ahead of the November 26 election.
Mr Guy questioned why Labor was focusing on political fights from the 1990s.
"Who would trust a government that has to look 30 years to the past to settle political scores?" he said.
In Melbourne's outer east, the Andrews government committed $60 million to upgrade Boronia Station if re-elected.
Redevelopment work would begin in 2024 and open in 2026, Minister for Public Transport Ben Carroll said.
The station falls within the state seat of Bayswater, held by Labor's Jackson Taylor on a razor-thin margin of 0.39 per cent.
Polling points to a Labor victory akin to the 2018 election "Danslide" but Mr Guy remains upbeat about the coalition's prospects, citing unpublished internal polling.
"We do proper polls and they had a pretty close and competitive situation," he told Seven's Sunrise on Monday.
A Resolve Political Monitor poll for The Age in September gave Labor a lead of 42 per cent to the Liberal-National coalition's 28 per cent on first preference votes, indicating the government would enjoy a crushing victory.
The most recent Newspoll, Guardian Essential and Roy Morgan surveys point to a similar outcome.
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