The inner-west was largely overlooked in Tuesday’s state budget, the final before November’s election.
Despite $27 billion worth of infrastructure promises in the next decade, hopes for a boost to TAFE funding, for a new high school, a rebuilt hospital in Footscray and major public transport improvements have been dashed, with the previously announced airport rail link and western section of the east-west link the only major project relating to the area.
Footscray MP Marsha Thomson said it was a “sham” of a budget that turned its back on the people of the inner-west.
“This is a government that reeks of desperation, that will say anything and do anything it thinks will get it elected,” she said.
Despite a $1.5 billion funding promise from the federal government, the state budget allocates just $100 million this year to the $8-10 billion western section of the east-west link.
It remains unclear whether the section would be in the form of a tunnel or an elevated freeway, yet Roads Minister Terry Mulder said construction could begin as early as the end of 2015 and finish by 2023.
“Extending from the Eastern Freeway to the Western Ring Road, the east-west link will close gaps in our freeway network and make it easier for people travelling to and across Melbourne,” he said
Western suburbs Liberal MP Andrew Elsbury criticised Labor and the Greens for opposing the project, arguing it was the only credible solution to get trucks off the streets of the inner-west.
“Opposing the east-west link consigns the people of the west to choke on decades of traffic congestion and trucks on our streets,” he said.
Wiliamstown MP Wade Noonan said governments can’t build things for which they haven’t budgeted.
“Denis Napthine somehow expects the people of Melbourne’s west to believe that his government can build a $10 billion road without allocating a dollar of state funding to deliver it,” he said.
“People aren’t stupid – they’ll see right through this spin.”
Mr Noonan and Ms Thomson want the government to prioritise public transport over another freeway, a view supported by Maribyrnong mayor Grant Miles.
Cr Miles said the state government’s priorities were skewed by Prime Minister Abbott’s insistence that roads but not rail are worthy of federal funding. “If you were going to spend
$8 to $10 billion on public transport and getting freight off roads, that would go a long way,” he said.
Western suburbs lobby group LeadWest supports construction of the western section of the east-west link. Chief executive Craig Rowley said it would reduce traffic congestion and take heavy vehicles off local roads.
“The project can also facilitate the renewal of Footscray and large-scale urban renewal in Melbourne’s west,” he said.
