VOTE ON VICTORIA’S
OUR abiding editorial line when it comes to state politics is that Victoria’s second biggest city must not be forgotten by the burghers of Spring Street.
Too often in the past Geelong has been resourced — in police, roads, infrastructure — as if it is a suburb of Melbourne rather than a sprawling region.
We are happy to report that in recent times we cannot complain too much (though we will not stop agitating).
Neither of the major party leaders have been strangers to Geelong in the past 18 months and they have often arrived bearing gifts (albeit ‘gifts’ paid for by us.)
This is no doubt due to the close race likely to take place in some of our local electorates rather than any sudden benevolence to the regions, but it is welcome nonetheless.
Geelong has been the subject of a number of bipartisan pledges where Labor and Liberal have agreed to bankroll local projects — meaning there should be progress for our region regardless of who wins.
Importantly this includes funding for a Geelong convention centre through a City Deal.
This has long been a neglected project but following campaigning in this outlet the Andrews Government eventually saw the light and committed to it.
The burning issues and priorities for our region are not necessarily the same as those that exist in Melbourne or elsewhere in the state.
The rapid achievement of big infrastructure projects such as level crossing removals and skyrail is a centrepiece of Daniel Andrews’ re-election campaign. But they mean little to the people of our region.
Crime remains a concern and burglaries and the proper punishment of bad juvenile offenders need to continue to be addressed.
But we have fortunately avoided the African youth crime problems that have flared up in recent years in suburban Melbourne.
An injection of extra police members following the Addy’s Reclaim Our Streets campaign also seems to have put a stop to a spate of bad carjackings that our region had suffered.
Both parties have committed to completing the Geelong Performing Arts Centre overhaul, the duplication of Barwon Heads Rd, and building a new Armstrong Creek secondary school.
Voters in the seat of Geelong will be interested in both parties’ proposals, on different timelines, for fast trains between here and Melbourne.
The Liberals are promising a Geelong metro system in addition to both parties’ pledge on the main corridor.
Transport is an area where Liberal leader Matthew Guy is very much across the detail of his brief. And we welcome the Liberal policy — pressed for in our editorials — of reopening the link between Werribee and Geelong to passenger rail, thereby creating two rail routes between the state’s two biggest cities.
Only Labor has committed to funding the final stage of the Kardinia Park stadium rebuild.
Only the Liberals will raise the speed limit on the Princes Freeway, between Corio and Werribee, to 110km/h.
In the seat of South Barwon the burning issue of the campaign has been fears of overdevelopment.
This seat is held by affable Armstrong Creek resident Andrew Katos, who has the ear of Mr Guy on issues concerning our region.
Mr Katos may be in the fight of his political life against Labor challenger Darren Cheeseman.
Mr Cheeseman has a reputation as a voracious campaigner that is matched only by his reputation — earned during his time as the federal member for Corangamite — for kicking back once in office.
But he stumbled onto a popular cause in Torquay when he — either as a strategic masterstroke or an accidental belly flop — espoused a policy on the Spring Creek development that was different to his party’s actual policy. In the end the mountain came to Mohammed and the Cheeseman policy became the ALP policy.
The Geelong race has been colourful as everyone knew it would be from the minute Darryn Lyons indicated he would be running as an independent.