City of Whittlesea residents gained a $10 million school commitment but little else under a bleak state budget yesterday as Treasurer Kim Wells announced a state surplus of $155 million.
A $10 million commitment to build a long-overdue primary school for Doreen South was a rare bright spot in a slew of job cuts, tougher fines and cuts to TAFE education.
Whittlesea Council unsuccessfully sought a commitment to fund Mernda Secondary College in Doreen and a preliminary study for the Mernda rail extension.
Northern Metropolitan MLC Craig Ondarchie said the government would spend $6.76 million on buying land at Epping North for future school facilities, as well as $10 million to build Doreen South’s primary school.
“This is a project I have been a strong advocate for in my short time as a Member of Parliament and this new school in Melbourne’s booming north will relieve enrolment pressures at the already packed Laurimar Primary,’’ he said.
Yan Yean MP Danielle Green said that with so many builders and tradespeople in the area, the absence of infrastructure projects, combined with the end of the first-home owners bonus for new homes, was a disaster.
She said the lack of funding to upgrade key arterials such as Plenty Road, Yan Yean Road and Epping Road, was a disgrace.
“There’s no investment in infrastructure for what matters to people in the north, but very much a focus on the east and south-east. It’s blatantly political,” she said.
“I think they’ve just sent the Victorian economy to sleep.”
An extra $200 million will be spent on progressively replacing high-risk powerlines in the wake of the Bushfires Royal Commission.
Northern Hospital’s emergency department will be expanded, but the $300 School Start Bonus will be abolished for families of 39,000 prep and Year 7 students. The Victorian TAFE sector will face cuts of $300 million.
A total of 4200 public service jobs will be axed while WorkCover premiums will be cut to 1.29 per cent.
