Melbourne’s outer suburbs need billions of dollars in funding to prevent them becoming ghettos and home to an underclass of people who can’t afford to live elsewhere, a new report warns.
The Interface Group of Councils, comprising 10 outer metropolitan municipalities, last week released its Fairer Funding report, which calls for “urgent state government investment”, particularly in Hume, Whittlesea, Melton and Wyndham.
The report found interface municipalities had hosted close to 50 per cent of Melbourne’s growth in the past five years yet received only 7 per cent of capital works funding in this year’s state budget.
The group has drawn up an election wishlist, which includes a recommendation that $4 billion be spent in the next five years to improve roads.
It wants $197 million in funding each year to improve bus services. It also wants a $200 million a year “interface” fund to help pay for community infrastructure and $50 million a year for low-interest loans for additional infrastructure.
Interface councils spokesman Rodney Parker said successive state budgets had failed to keep pace with population growth in the outer areas. “It’s a worrying trend that shows significant disparity in the way state infrastructure funding is being allocated between metropolitan, regional and rural municipalities.”
