Coalition earmarks more cash for commuter car parks in marginal seats

Railway station car parks promised to key seats at the 2019 election are getting a fresh funding boost and even resurrection as the Coalition attempts to keep faith with commuting voters.

As part of an infrastructure package to be confirmed in Tuesday’s budget, an extra $47.5 million will go to five car park projects in Victoria and NSW. Hundreds of millions of dollars will also go to larger transport projects, with a substantial proportion going towards marginal seats in both states.

Kananook station was promised an enlarged car park at the 2019 election. It was then abandoned and it is now back as part of an increase in car park spending.Credit: Justin McManus

The $660 million Commuter Car Park fund was the focus of a scathing report by the Auditor-General that found 77 per cent of its projects were pledged to Coalition seats. Most were in Melbourne’s east and south-east, where the Liberal Party was defending a string of marginal electorates.

Both sides of politics went to the 2019 election promising extra parking around suburban railway stations. Some of the projects pledged by the Coalition were also on offer from Labor.

This month, four car parks worth $65 million that were promised for Treasurer Josh Frydenberg’s seat of Kooyong were abandoned in the face of community opposition, large cost blowouts and the axing of one railway station.

In Tuesday’s budget, $18 million will be earmarked for a car park at the Kananook railway station in the Melbourne Labor-held marginal seat of Dunkley. The car park was promised in the 2019 election, was ditched early last year, but has now been saved with extra cash.

The cost of the Kingswood station car park in the Sydney Liberal-held marginal seat of Lindsay was originally forecast at $20 million. In the budget, that will be topped up with another $12.5 million.

Top-ups for stations at Woy Woy and Panania (both NSW) and Hampton in Victoria will also be made. Woy Woy is in the Liberal-held marginal seat of Robertson, which will also be promised $336 million in road upgrades for the town centre and $51.2 million towards a road intersection upgrade.

Another large top-up is earmarked for a major road project in the Labor-held marginal seat of Gilmore, which the Coalition hopes to win with former NSW cabinet minister Andrew Constance.

The government previously committed $400 million to the bypass of Milton-Ulladulla, a popular tourist area in the middle of Gilmore. The entire project was originally forecast to cost $500 million. Under the Coalition’s pre-election pledge, it will pump an additional $352 million into the project, which is expected to be completed in 2026.

An extra $352 million will be promised for a road bypass in the key seat of Gilmore, which the Coalition’s Andrew Constance hopes to win at the May election.Credit: Renee Nowytarger

As part of the package, an additional $53.4 million will go to road projects across Liberal-held seats in south-eastern Melbourne.

This includes $23.1 million for an upgrade of Canterbury Road, which connects Kooyong to the eastern edge of Deakin, which is held by frontbencher Michael Sukkar. The road runs through Chisholm, the government’s second most marginal electorate.

Over recent weeks, Labor, which has criticised the government for pork barrelling, has been announcing its own projects, which have heavily favoured marginal seats.

Shadow treasurer Jim Chalmers defended Labor’s plans, saying they had been developed with local councils and communities.

“The difference couldn’t be starker between a government which sits around poring over colour-coded spreadsheets. It gives one amount to one seat because it’s Liberal, another amount to another seat because it’s Labor,” he said.

Jacqueline Maley cuts through the noise of the federal election campaign with news, views and expert analysis. Sign up to our Australia Votes 2022 newsletter here.