Election promises: Where in Geelong is set to benefit

Geelong Advertiser’s political reporter breaks down the first week of the election campaign while discussing the promises made to the region so far.

The engine is revving on the 2022 federal election campaign and rivers of gold are flowing.

This week the Liberals swung into action, playing catch up to Labor’s $150m of pre-campaign promises in the Geelong region.

Promises from the major parties for the region sit at or above $146m each, if the Liberal’s re-announcement of millions for the Geelong refinery is counted in the 2022 campaign tally.

The nation’s eyes turned to Geelong for the second time in five days this week, as the Prime Minister was at Viva Energy on Wednesday to re-announce a $302m 2021-22 budget measure to bring forward production of better-quality fuel from 2027 to 2024.

The kicker was Viva would tip in $175m to build the infrastructure needed to refine low-sulphur fuel on top of $125m from the government.

On Monday morning the Liberal’s re-election commitment tally in the region sat at $0 — now it’s at $146.19m.

Corangamite Liberal candidate Stephanie Asher kicked off the week wearing a towel to commit $20m for an indoor pool at Drysdale.

The Liberals expect the indoor pool to be built and opened by about 2025.

While an outdoor 50m pool the federal government part funded, at the same location during the 2019 campaign, is expected to open in 2023.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison visits Viva Energy Oil near Corio, Victoria to announce a $125 million investment in this refinery. Picture: Jason Edwards

Labor want an indoor pool at Drysdale to be built in the project’s first stage.

This week the Liberals also committed to a $500,000 upgrade of the Torquay basketball centre, and a $690,000 spend at Bannockburn FNC.

Labor’s focus this week was on sporting clubs, committing to $350,000 to Bannockburn FNC and $1.2m to South Barwon CC. The party also pledged $450,000 for a redevelopment of a childcare centre at Bannockburn.

It builds on major pre-campaign commitments of $125m for a second upgrade of Barwon Heads Rd and an indoor pool at Drysdale ($20m).

The minor parties are yet to make any promises locally but their national promises would only come into play if they have to strike a power-sharing agreement with major parties.

What’s almost predictable is the majority of promises made by the major parties in the Geelong region — with the exception of the Viva Energy money — are at or near suburbs where the voting majority has swung at least three times at federal elections since 2004.

What’s concerning is neither have made commitments that on face value are ready-made for those in the Corio electorate, among some of the country’s most disadvantaged.

On Thursday Labor did vow to keep Centrelink shopfronts opened and hire 200 workers to boost Services Australia’s operations.

Admittedly, as the campaign rises to a crescendo heading toward polling day on May 21, there’s still five weeks left to address the need in Corio.

Originally published as Election promises: Where in Geelong is set to benefit