Yes, regional areas do deserve more

SENTINEL-TIMES COMMENT

WITH the federal election over, it’s “game on” in Victoria, in the run up to the November 26 state election, still an agonising six months away!

Last week, the Premier Daniel Andrews was in Wonthaggi, making a welcome visit to check on progress at Wonthaggi’s $115 million hospital.

Certainly, the pandemic has exposed some serious problems with the state’s health system, especially chronic under-staffing, under-funding and blown-out waiting lists, but for a rapidly expanding community, it’s great to at least have the infrastructure in place.

We also saw the Opposition, the Liberal-National party coalition, coming out over the weekend to pledge 25 per cent of infrastructure spending for regional areas, in line with the population spread.

And whether you accept their potentially rubbery figures or not, it seems that there will be an added focus on the regions in the run up to the poll which will be welcome.

A few things stand out: there’s not enough affordable housing or enough childcare to provide for the people who want to work in this region now, let alone those who want to come here for the jobs being opened up by growth.

These twin issues are stifling growth in business and forcing young people in particular to look elsewhere.

There’s the Wonthaggi and Phillip Island aquatic centres to be funded and two less “sexy” problems to be attended to: ‘kamikaze corner’ in Leongatha and the slow, dangerous Island access route, Phillip Island Road.

Both these roads are the scene of crashes and near misses on a daily basis, the latter involving several fatalities.

Whatever the cost, both these projects need to be on the regional infrastructure lists of both sides of politics over the next few months.

What would you like to see on the ‘to do list’ for the next state government?