By Alesha Capone
The western suburbs have been overlooked in a federal Liberal government promise to spend $300 million on new carparks at Melbourne train stations if the party is re-elected at the upcoming federal election.
The Liberals said the funding would go towards new “park and ride facilities” at 30 Melbourne stations on the Belgrave/Lilydale, Frankston, Sandringham, Craigieburn, South Morang and Hurstbridge train lines.
The state government and Wyndham council expressed disappointment there were no western suburbs stations included.
Victorian Transport Infrastructure Minister Jacinta Allan told SBS she believed that the announcement was a “political stunt”.
Wyndham mayor Mia Shaw said that commuter parking at Wyndham’s railway stations was “at capacity”.
“We’re disappointed that there have not been any commitments to address parking at Wyndham’s train stations by the Liberal National coalition during this election,” she said.
“Wyndham is one of the fastest growing municipalities in Australia, so we are in need of investment in this area.
“We are urging all candidates in the federal election to present real solutions to this issue.”
Federal Lalor MP Joanne Ryan said “it should be no surprise to anyone locally that the Liberal Party has failed to commit to invest in the west of Melbourne”.
After Star Weekly posted the news of the Liberal announcement on Facebook last week, several readers commented that Wyndham’s train stations were in need of more carparks as existing parks often fill up by 7am on weekdays.
Amar described the Liberal announcement as a “blatant disregard of the current situation in the west”.
But the federal Minister for Cities, Urban Infrastructure and Population, Alan Tudge, said that the Liberals had allocated a significant amount of funding to transport projects in Melbourne’s west, including $2 billion for fast rail between Geelong and Melbourne, $5 billion for the Melbourne Airport Rail Link and $200 million towards the widening of the Tullamarine Freeway.
