Victorians will pay less for public transport across regional Victoria regardless of who wins the state election, with transport, hip-pocket issues, health and IS brides all featuring on the first official day of the campaign.
Premier Daniel Andrews boarded a big red campaign bus plastered with photos of himself in high-vis and a hard-hat to Ballarat to announce a Labor pledge to slash all V/Line fares if re-elected on November 26.
The scheme would see travel on the regional train service capped at $9.20 a day for full-fare commuters, and $4.60 for concession card holders.
As part of a $1 billion pledge, Labor has also promised to order 23 new VLocity trains to be built locally and an extra 200 weekend V/Line services from 2024.
The additional services would cost $207 million over four years, while the cheaper fares would cost the budget $203 million.
"For the first time ever, we are putting regional commuters on parity with metropolitan Melbourne," Mr Andrews said.
"It is about equity and fairness about a fair go, it's about doing something meaningful about the cost of living."
Last month, the Coalition promised to halve V/Line ticket prices and cap all public transport fares in Melbourne at $2 a day.
Campaigning today in Parkdale, in the Labor-held seat of Mordialloc, Opposition Leader Matthew Guy's pledge to reduce household water bills was overshadowed by questions about how much his $2 fare would cost taxpayers following the release of department figures.
He has stood by his claim that it would cost $1.3 billion, according to a costing by the Parliamentary Budget Office, which has not been released publicly.
In a heated exchange with reporters, Mr Guy criticised the government for requesting public servants undertake the analysis, but said the opposition would publish its full policy costings.
"Our figures will be released before the election," Mr Guy said.
"We will release them, they will add up, like they did last time. They didn't add up for Labor last time, they did for us. They will again.
"I'm not sure that this is a gotcha moment."
The focus of the Coalition's first day of campaigning was a promise to freeze water service charges for five years if elected, saving the average Victorian household up to $100 a year, according to Mr Guy.
"We're not promising the world, we're promising solutions that are real," Mr Guy said.
'ISIS brides' and 'Ditch Danmobile' in focus
Mr Guy has also argued the state should not allow the repatriation of wives and children of Islamic State fighters because it would compromise safety.
The first group of so-called "ISIS brides" have been resettled in NSW, but no women and children who have been held in detention in Syria have been sent to Victoria.
Mr Andrews said it was a matter for the federal government when quizzed by reporters in Ballarat.
Mr Guy said on social media that the Coalition did not support any resettlement.
"While I feel for some of them, and particularly their children, we cannot compromise the safety and security of Victorians,'' he posted on Facebook.
The Opposition does not have an election bus this year to transport reporters, MPs and staff to its campaign pledges.
Instead it rolled out an ambulance from the 1970s with the slogan "Ditch Dan", highlighting issues with the state's health system.
But it has come under fire by the Ambulance Union for using the old vehicle.
"It is an offence under the ambulance service to operate a vehicle and call it an ambulance," Ambulance Union Secretary Danny Hill said.
"There are very strict rules around the use of the word ambulance on a vehicle and that is there for a reason, you don't want someone in an emergency to accidentally wave down an ambulance operated by two politicians playing dress-ups."
Mr Guy said he would not be lectured by the Labor party or the union movement after Labor campaigned with a fire engine at the 2014 election.
Meanwhile, the Victorian Greens launched its plan to phase out pokies across the state, including increasing the tax on poker machines to 65 per cent, and extending mandatory pre-commitment limits to every gaming machine in Victoria, not just at Crown casino.
