Traffic, public transport, TAFE and kindergarten places key Burwood state election issues

TRAFFIC congestion, public transport, TAFE and kindergarten places are the main concerns for Burwood candidates this state election.

Springvale Road traffic during the afternoon peak. Pic taken looking north towards Burwood Highway, Nunawading.

RELIEVING traffic congestion, overcrowding on public transport, reviving the TAFE system and creating more kindergarten places are the main concerns for Burwood candidates in the lead-up to the state election.

Burwood state Liberal MP Graham Watt said he was proud of his achievements with the introduction of new planning zones and the money that would be spent on Ashwood School.

Mr Watt said East West Link would relieve a lot of traffic in the electorate.

“People heading south to the Monash might head north to the Eastern Freeway to get through so the East West Link will relieve a lot of congestion and provide a lot of access to places like the airport, Ballarat and Geelong,” Mr Watt said.

But Independent candidate Peter Campbell said he believed East West Link was not the answer.

“We need some new train lines and the East West Link tollway tunnel is not a good transport solution for Melbourne,” Mr Campbell said.

“I’m actually in favour of extending the Alamein Line to Chadstone.”

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Mr Campbell also said Burwood needed more kinder and childcare places.

Labor candidate Gavin Ryan said traffic and parking congestion on local streets was his main concern.

“The way we can fix that is to make it easier to make easier for people to get to their local schools and shops through increased pedestrian access, smarter use of parking restrictions, making sure that we have an opportunity get across our suburbs and making the linkages for public transport work a lot better,” Mr Ryan said.

“We need some new train lines and the East West Link tollway tunnel is not a good transport solution for Melbourne,” Peter Campbell, Burwood state Independent candidate

He also said the “massive cutbacks” to TAFE and kinder were an issue.

“How we would fix them is to fund them and run them properly and that’s why we’ve announced the TAFE package and that’s why we’ve announced a range of support for kinders,” Mr Ryan said.

While Greens candidate Beck Stuart said renewable energy and energy prices were her major concern, she also stated tram overcrowding as a problem for the Burwood electorate.

“I know from taking the tram myself I’m standing for about 45 minutes into a 55 minute trip and that’s quite a long time to be standing if you’ve been working all day and, like I have, you stand at work all day,” Ms Stuart said.

While Mr Watt, Mr Campbell and Mr Ryan were all able to name Michael O’Brien as the Victorian Treasurer when asked, Ms Stuart was not.