By Luke Voogt
The 2018-19 State Budget has failed to deliver “much-needed” road and rail duplications according to municipal alliance G21.
The Andrews Government’s lack of funding for rail duplication between Geelong and Waurn Ponds stations surprised and disappointed G21 chief Elaine Carbines.
“The budget also failed to provide specific solutions to the overcrowding, unreliability and excessively-long commute times of Melbourne-Geelong train services,” the former Labor MP said.
Ms Carbines welcomed $50 million to investigate Victorian rail upgrades, including a fast train from Geelong to Melbourne.
“However, at best, any resulting fast train will be seven or more years away,” she said.
“Commuters are packed in like sardines now. They can’t wait for seven years.”
The budget failed to fund an emergency hub at Armstrong Creek and the duplication of the Barwon Heads Road.
“A community of this size needs appropriate fast-response emergency services, as a recent tragic fire in the area starkly demonstrated,” Ms Carbines said.
The duplication was essential for the road to cope with increasingly heavy traffic to Geelong’s fastest growing suburb, she added.
Road and rail would become critical issues in the November State Election, she added.
But Ms Carbines welcomed $153.2m for a City Deal, which brought the planned convention centre, improvements to Shipwreck Coast and central Geelong revitalisation works a “giant step closer”.
She urged the Turnbull Government to at least match the funding in next week’s Federal Budget.
“G21 also welcomes infrastructure funding for new and upgraded schools, maintenance of the region’s roads and upgraded sporting facilities,” she said.
The Geelong Chamber of Commerce lauded the State Government for cutting payroll tax by a third for businesses paying at least 85 per cent of wages to regional-based employees.
The government will build a crisis hub at Geelong hospital emergency department as part of $705m in the budget to fight addiction and mental illness across Victoria.
The budget includes $250,000 for a study to make Geelong Australia’s “most inclusive and accessible city”.
It also features $7.9m to clean contaminated land at Geelong Gun Club and $2.8m for the Geelong Project to keep disadvantaged students at school and prevent them from becoming homeless.
“This budget will revitalise Geelong’s city centre, support local businesses and create good local jobs,” Geelong MP Christine Couzens said.
But coalition MP Simon Ramsay accused the government of misleading Geelong on the City Deal.
The project was worth $139.2m based on his reading of the budget papers and the government would only spend $10.8m on the deal during 2018-19, the Member for Western Victoria said.
Mr Ramsay described the fast train study as “expensive con” and said the budget denied Geelong vital infrastructure funding.
