Call to fulfill election carpark promise

An Opposition MP has called on the state government to fulfill a promise it made before last year’s election, to build the 1600 new and upgraded car parks at train stations in Melbourne’s west.
Western metropolitan MP Bernie Finn made the statement in parliament last month, directing his questions about the issue to the Minister for Transport Infrastructure Jacinta Allan.
Mr Finn said that in the lead up to the 2018 election, both Werribee MP Tim Pallas and the then-candidate for Tarneit, Sarah Connolly, put out brochures in their respective electorates promising to build the car parks.
Mr Finn said this included a commitment to build 500 new and upgraded spaces at Tarneit station, more than 300 spaces at Wyndham Vale station and more than 100 spaces at Werribee station.
He said the brochures also promised to install “new lighting and CCTV to make the stations safer”.
But Mr Finn said that commuters were still waiting for the promised car parks and safety measures.
“The people of the Werribee and Tarneit electorates are still waiting, more than a year after the election,” he said.
“Minister, how much longer do they have to wait for these promises from the Andrews government to be kept?”
In September a state government spokesman told Star Weekly that “early planning has begun” on the new and upgraded car parks for the stations, and that the government would work with councils, rail operators and the community on the design.
Last week, a state government spokesperson said: “We’re getting on with providing more car parks at Wyndham Vale, Werribee, Tarneit and Watergardens train stations.
“These car parks will free up local streets and make it easier and encourage more people to catch a train.”
The spokesperson did not answer questions about how many of the car parks would be new and how many would be upgraded, or how much installing the car parks would cost.