Group urge governments not to desert fast rail

Geelong-based Liberal Senator Sarah Henderson has labelled a reported decision to halt the Geelong Fast Rail project a “massive setback”.

Liberal Senator Sarah Henderson has slammed the apparent pause of the Geelong Fast Rail project, labelling it a “massive setback”. Picture: David Smith

Major Geelong organisations have attacked the state and federal governments over reports Geelong’s $4bn fast rail project will be put on hold.

Work on the long-awaited project was expected to begin this year, four years after the state and federal governments announced they would partner to deliver the key infrastructure.

The Geelong Advertiser reported on Saturday the state government would pause the Geelong Fast Rail and Melbourne Airport Rail projects amid fears of a huge budget deficit.

G21 chief executive Giulia Baggio said reports of a delay were concerning given the region was in “desperate need of major public transport investment”.

“Both federal and state governments are well aware the Geelong region has outgrown its transport network and the community is poorly served by public transport,” she said.

“Now is not the time to put our communities’ needs on the back burner.”

The project would see the trip between Geelong and Melbourne reduced to 50 minutes.

It would fall well-short of then Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s March 2019 promise of a “congestion-busting rail” hitting an average speed of 160km/h and cutting the trip down to just 32 minutes

Committee for Geelong chief executive Michael Johnston said if the project’s pause was confirmed, the organisation would expect a commitment that the funding had not been lost and that any delay would be kept to a minimum.

He said transport continued to be the major issue raised by committee members, and the “time has come for a co-ordinated approachto addressing this”.

Ms Baggio said a soon-to-be-released integrated transport strategy developed by G21 and its regional partners, including the Committee, would identify a number of rail and active transport projects that would need to be funded in the next five toten years to avoid a “massive increase” in road congestion.

“We are attracting record numbers of young people and have a rare opportunity to turbocharge our regional economy,” she said.

“We will not achieve that without a serious program of transport investment, which is already overdue.”

The City of Greater Geelong’s mayor Trent Sullivan said governments, at all levels, were having to make tough decisions amongrising infrastructure costs.

“We’ll continue to advocate for our community and work with the state and federal governments to deliver positive outcomes,” he said.

Surf Coast Shire mayor Liz Pattison said: “We understand the challenging financial environment, but we hope to see funding for this vital transport infrastructure tosupport the needs of our growing community.”

The state government would not confirm whether the project had been paused or the status of funding.

“Any decisions about federal government funding of infrastructure projects in Victoria is a matter for them.”

Henderson slams Geelong Fast Rail pause

Geelong-based Liberal Senator Sarah Henderson has slammed the federal government over a reported decision to halt the Geelong Fast Rail project, labelling it a “massive setback”.

News Corp on Saturday revealed the state government would pause the Geelong Fast Rail and Melbourne Airport Rail projects amid fears of a huge budget deficit.

Those reports came after federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers met with the states over budget fears. The rail projects are joint federal and state initiatives.

Ms Henderson said she was “appalled”, after the previous Coalition federal government worked to deliver commonwealth funding for faster rail services between Melbourne and Geelong, that the Albanese government was planning to “strip” this funding from the region.

A 2019 Sarah Henderson sign on Surf Coast Hwy spruking $2bn delivered for Geelong fast rail. Picture: Alison Wynd

She also criticised Corio MP Richard Marles and Corangamite MP Libby Coker over the decision.

“This is a massive setback for commuters from Geelong and southwest Victoria travelling to and from Melbourne, the busiest regional rail corridor in Victoria, who deserve state-of-the-art rail services,” Ms Henderson said.

“In savaging our region with the biggest funding cut in living memory, Mr Marles and Ms Coker have deserted the people of Geelong, Surf Coast and the Bellarine.

“They have shown they are unfit to fight for our region in Canberra.”

Ms Henderson said reports the state and federal governments would pause both the $4bn Geelong Fast Rail project and the Melbourne Airport Rail Link “tells us everything we need to know” about the federal government’s budget priorities.

She said called on local councils, the G21 Geelong Region Alliance and the Committee for Geelong to join in fighting the “massive funding cut”.

“Regional Victoria has already been hit hard by Labor’s broken cost-of-living promises, including on skyrocketing power prices, groceries, interest rates, rents and mortgages,” she said.

“This decision is one more kick in the guts from a heartless Albanese government.”

Ms Henderson said she also had “deep concerns” the Waurn Ponds to South Geelong rail upgrade faced “deep cuts”.

“There is still no commitment to duplicate the section of rail between Marshall and South Geelong, and where is the long overdue business case for the rail tunnel between South Geelong and Geelong?”

The Geelong Advertiser approached Mr Marles and Ms Coker for comment.

Local councils, G21 and Committee for Geelong were also contacted for comment.

News Corp revealed the project would be suspended amid fears the state was approaching a record $200bn debt unless it took drastic action to cut spending.

The suspensions of the Geelong and Melbourne rail projects are expected to save the federal government hundreds of millions of dollars.

Originally published as Group urge governments not to desert fast rail