More than one week after the Liberal and National parties pledged $900 million to fix three Melton roads, the Labor Party has yet to match the commitment.
On Saturday, October 29, Liberal leader Matt Guy pledged $700 million to upgrade the Western Highway between the Western Ring Road and Melton, $117 million to duplicate the Melton Highway between Melton and Hillside, and $91 million to duplicate Taylors Road between Kings and Gourlay roads, if it is successful at November 26 state election.
The funding is part of a $1.5 billion west roads package
Melton council has been campaigning for upgrades to the Western and Melton highways as part of its ‘Fix Our Roads’ campaign.
It also wants upgrades to Christies Road, Hopkins Road and the Robinsons Road, Westwood Drive, Calder Park Drive corridor.
In response to questions from Star Weekly about whether Labor would match the commitment, Melton MP Steve McGhie, Sydenham MP Natalia Hutchins and Kororoit candidate Luba Grigorovitch took the opportunity to slam the Liberals.
“People in the western suburbs know you can’t trust Matthew Guy’s Liberals on infrastructure – the Liberals cut $40m from roads in Melbourne’s north-west, slashing funding to key growth areas like Melton by nearly 30 per cent.
“You can’t trust Matthew Guy’s Liberals – they’ve promised to cut level crossing removals, and have attacked Labor’s plan to remove four level crossings in Melton and Werribee in favour of a project in Glenferrie.”
Mr McGhie, Ms Hutchins and Ms Grigorovitch also pointed to Labor’s upgrades to Wyndham roads and the West Gate Tunnel project.
Labor allocated $14.9 million for duplication works between Crown Drive and The Regency intersection in Plumpton on the Melton Highway as part of the state budget.
