Three weeks out from the state election and the battle lines have been drawn.
Last week, Wyndham council released its Call to the Parties, an election wishlist urging the major parties to respond to the city’s community and infrastructure needs.
A 2013 Auditor-General’s report found Wyndham had an infrastructure funding shortfall of between $975 million and $1.3 billion.
The council’s wishlist calls for the parties to commit to arterial road upgrades, the removal of railway level crossings, improved bus services, ongoing funding for schools to keep up with population growth, a Wyndham crisis intervention and accommodation hub, and increased respite services, particularly for children with disabilities.
Star Weekly provided Liberal Western Metropolitan MP Andrew Elsbury and former Tarneit Labor MP and current Werribee candidate Tim Pallas the opportunity to respond to the council’s wishlist and outline their policies on some of the city’s major issues.
On roads and transport, Mr Elsbury said the Coalition had already delivered a “record number” of bus services to Wyndham, including new routes at Point Cook and Sanctuary Lakes, with work under way on the Sneydes Road interchanges at the East Werribee employment precinct.
Mr Pallas said Labor, if elected, would remove 50 railway level crossings, including Werribee and Cherry streets, and p
ut $1 billion towards upgrading outer suburban roads, and while Labor would conduct a feasibility study into a Bay West port between Werribee and Geelong, Mr Elsbury said the Coalition was “committed” to building a second container port at Hastings. He said Bay West would overload Wyndham’s transport corridors and decimate recreational fishing in Port Phillip Bay.
Education proved a key battleground, with Mr Elsbury saying the Coalition was already building and rebuilding schools across the city, and Mr Pallas promising Labor would provide $10 million to upgrade Tarneit P-9 College and $7 million for Werribee Secondary College.
Labor would also open one of its proposed tech schools in Wyndham to allow secondary students to learn hands-on skills alongside their regular studies.
On health, Mr Elsbury said the Coalition was spending $34 million on a new 54-bed mental health unit at Werribee Mercy. Mr Pallas did not release details about Labor’s plans for health in Wyndham.
Wyndham councillor Gautam Gupta said residents were fed up with being overlooked. “We may not be a marginal seat but why should our needs be largely ignored? Governments need to govern for the whole of state, not just marginal seats,” he said.
