By NOEL MURPHY
A BITTER fight over the Great Ocean Road appears to have secured Corangamite for the coalition’s Sarah Henderson at the federal election.
Outgoing Labor MP Darren Cheeseman’s warnings against a Liberal-backed $50 million upgrade of the road failed to prevent booth swings to the coalition of 10 and 11 per cent at Apollo Bay and Lorne respectively.
Ms Henderson said the coalition’s “flagship” commitment to repairing the ocean road and guarding against rockslides carried the day.
“Our Great Ocean Road commitment resonated very strongly across the region but particularly in areas where the road is in desperate need of urgent works,” she said.
Work would begin as a matter of urgency, with $15 million federal funding this financial year and $5 million in each of the two subsequent years. State Government will stump up a further $25 million.
“Work by VicRoads on the scope of the Great Ocean Road upgrade has begun (and) will take two to three months to complete,” Ms Henderson said.
Mr Cheeseman credited Labor’s loss in Corangamite to the “national mood” rather than the Great Ocean Road campaign.
“I’m sure she’s trying to promote what’s she doing and that’s fair enough but we didn’t lose votes on back of the Great Ocean Road.
“In our local campaign we suffered a four per cent swing. The state swing against Labor was six per cent, so our campaign was stronger than the Liberals’.”
G21 Regional Alliance chief Elaine Carbines said the $50 million upgrade would help bolster tourism in the region, with the ocean road drawing seven million visitors a year and generating $2 billion.
“We worked very hard for the Federal Government to invest in the Great Ocean Road and see this as a real breakthrough,” Ms Carbines said.
