Revisited: Every Geelong promise made during the 2022 state and federal elections

More than 120 promises were made to Geelong voters during the state and federal elections in 2022. Have they been broken or honoured? Are they still on track? The Geelong Advertiser has taken a deep dive to ask “Where is that vow now?”

Ella George at Western Heights college to announce the new gymnasium. Inset: former premier of Victoria Daniel Andrews and Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles.

More than 120 promises were made to Geelong voters during the state and federal elections in 2022. Have they been broken or honoured? Are they still on track? The Geelong Advertiser has taken a deep dive to ask where is that vow now?

State and federal Labor won both elections and made at least 71 promises, while the unsuccessful Coalition campaigns made 56 commitments.

With Anthony Albanese’s planned changes to Labor’s stage 3 tax cuts, the spotlight is brighter than ever one what promises are made on the campaign trail.

LONG TIME COMING

Students first moved into Western Heights College’s Vines Rd campus in 2011, after stage one of the $20m redevelopment of the area’s community centre.

According to the Hamlyn Heights Recreation Reserve masterplan, released in September 2010, a basketball stadium was set to follow in stage two.

In 2020, Western Heights opened a new high-performance centre, part of the school’s progressive Specialist Sports Program.

The school’s basketball program itself makes use of offsite facilities including the Arena.

However, as successive governments under premiers John Brumby, Ted Baillieu, Denis Napthine and Daniel Andrews came and went, the school was forced to keep using the old gym located at its former senior campus on Quamby Ave – which opened in the 1960s.

The rest of the old Quamby campus closed at the end of 2014 and was demolished and replaced by special education school Hamlyn Views in 2018.

It wasn’t until October 2022, when Labor’s Lara candidate Ella George promised the new $7.55m “state-of-the-art” gymnasium would be built for the school, that a government committed to finishing the Vines Rd campus.

The ageing Quamby Ave gym used by Western Heights College students. Picture: Alison Wynd

College principal Fiona Taylor said the gym was currently in the design phase and was set to go to tender mid-year.

The project is expected to be completed in 2026.

“We are working closely with our VSBA Project Manager and our Project Design Consultants, Workshop Architecture, to deliver a fabulous facility for our school and local community,” she said.

“The new facility will allow our rapidly growing school community of 1000 plus students, to meet together, celebrate learning and build whole school culture.”

Ms Taylor said the school was hoping to open access to the competition-grade facility to the community.

Ms George, who replaced longtime Lara MP John Eren after his retirement in 2022, said she was “really excited” to deliver the long-awaited facility.

“For too long, (Western Heights College) students have been using old and outdated facilities,” Ms George said.

“The state of the art gym at Western Heights will be something that students and the school community can be proud of – because every student deserves the very best.”

STATE ELECTION

Western Heights College’s gymnasium was just one of dozens of promises worth more than $300m made to Geelong region voters by the Labor Party during the campaign trail.

The Geelong Advertiser asked the state government to provide updates on what stage each project was at.

Most projects remain in the planning stage, however some have been completed – including a funding boast for Southern Otway Landcare Network, free vehicle registration for apprentice tradies and a satellite public IVF service at Barwon Health.

A $100,000 upgrade at the St Leonards Progress Association is expected to be completed this year, while East Geelong Primary School’s $3.39m redevelopment is forecast to be finished in late-2025, as is a $3.6m upgrade to Mount Duneed Regional Primary School.

The brand new Horseshoe Bend Primary School is expected to open in 2026, alongside a redevelopment of The Gordon’s student hub, while Portarlington’s promised early education centre is forecast to open in 2028.

FEDERAL ELECTION

In the May 2022 election, Labor made 31 promises across the electorates of Corio and Corangamite in its bid to return to power, worth more than $200m.

The overwhelming majority – 22 – of those promises related to the marginal seat of Corangamite, which was commonly regarded as a swing seat.

Comparatively, all but three of the Coalitions’ 26 promises impacted the electorate.

Labor held the seat by a margin of just 1.1 per cent, after Libby Coker defeated incumbent Sarah Henderson by the barest of margins in 2019.

Ms Coker won a second term in 2022, defeating former Geelong Mayor Stephanie Asher after an 8.3 per cent swing against the Coalition.

In the 2022 election, Richard Marles – now the Deputy Prime Minister – comfortably retained the seat.

Just nine of Labor’s promises directly impacted Corio.

According to information provided to the Geelong Advertiser, all promises received funding in the October 2022 budget, however the current status of individual projects beyond that was not provided.

The Department of Education confirmed Drysdale Primary School, Inverleigh Primary School, Mirripoa Primary School, and Surf Coast Secondary College “have completed their projects or are actively progressing their projects”.

Completion of a defence force veterans wellbeing hub is expected by mid-2026.

The largest project promised by Federal Labor was a $125m commitment to Stage 2 of the duplication of Barwon Heads Rd, a commitment matched by the state government.

Early last year, the state government began the public consultation phase of the project.

Originally published as Revisited: Every Geelong promise made during the 2022 state and federal elections