Promises of cash start flowing in for Port Phillip as election day closes in

WITH the State Election just eight weeks away, the two major political parties are kicking off their final bidding war for Port Phillip votes.

N43ck502 Gatwick Hotel. The Gatwick Hotel in St Kilda is being upgraded and refurbished.

WITH the State Election less than eight weeks away, the two major political parties are kicking off their final bidding war for Port Phillip votes.

The State Government and incumbent Labor Opposition MP Martin Foley have unveiled new commitments for projects they hope will sweeten the deal for swinging voters in the marginal Albert Park electorate.

But parents still waiting for a bipartisan commitment to open a new primary school by 2017.

Mr Foley today announced that Labor, if elected, will pour more than half a million dollars into agencies that help keep the most disadvantaged local residents off the streets.

The $600,000 project would support residents of the Gatwick hotel, a notorious Fitzroy St boarding house, with housing and drug and alcohol programs delivered by the Sacred Heart Mission and St Kilda Community Housing.

Labor has also promised not to sell the Elenara boarding house, which is being assessed for potential sale by the Napthine government.

Meanwhile, Prahran Liberal MP Clem Newton-Brown has announced the Government will spend $60,000 installing new flood lights at the St Kilda Junction underpass in response to a community campaign.

The Junction Area Action Group lobbied for the works, due to start late this year, which aim to improve the perception of safety and deter anti-social behaviour.

The Leader has been campaigning for cash and a timeline to open a new primary school, but so far only Labor has come to the table with its $11.5 million Albert Park school, which would open by 2018.

Liberal candidate Shannon Eeles has maintained a public commitment to securing the capital works funding for the Government’s promised “vertical school” on South Melbourne’s Ferrars St, professing to be in regular contact with Education Minister Martin Dixon about the matter — which could be a deal-breaker for the marginal Albert Park electorate.

The Education Department has spent $16 million buying the Ferrars St site and on planning, but is yet to commit bricks-and-mortar funding.

Other promises so far:

Labor

— $10 million for a long-awaited revamp of Elwood College (although electoral boundary redistributions mean this now falls in the Brighton electorate)

Liberal

— $20 million to build a secondary school in Prahran (with a commitment to open enrolments to Port Phillip students)