WHITTLESEA mayor Rex Griffin has called the state budget a “kick in the guts” and claimed it has virtually ignored one of Australia’s fastest growing regions.
“South Morang, Mernda and Doreen are for the second year running the fastest growing suburban areas in the nation,” Cr Griffin said.
He said despite the funding of a secondary school in Doreen, more money was needed for primary schools in Mernda, Doreen and Epping North by 2016.
“Provision of basic infrastructure should … be a right shared by all members of our society,” he said.
“This is another demonstration of a government that commits us to a high growth setting but does not follow through with basic infrastructure and service delivery.
“What we have at the moment is infrastructure lag to the point that our growth communities are teetering on the edge of unsustainable liveability and this state budget does little to address that.
The continued lag has direct implications for social wellbeing and economic productivity.” Cr Griffin said Whittlesea had an annual influx of around 9300 people, almost equal to a town like Swan Hill moving to the area every year, and it was disappointing that the budget catered for regional and rural areas rather than growth urban fringe areas.
“Our community is fed up with a lack of infrastructure and services that people in inner Melbourne take for granted.
If the government is serious about planning for and supporting growth as they have stated, then they need to make a substantive and ongoing funding commitment to the City of Whittlesea now,” he said.
Whittlesea needed more schools, the O’Herns Road, Epping interchange onto the Hume freeway, the Mernda rail extension, a new police station in Mernda and more, he said.
