VITAL funding has been held back from Moorabool students who again lost out in the state budget, according to mayor Pat Griffin.
Cr Griffin said the community was miffed that nothing had been specifically allocated for
the shire.
He said the biggest blow was that nothing had been injected into the municipality’s only state high school, the crowded Bacchus Marsh College.
“It’s four years now since students have been in portable rooms,” he said.
“With one of the fastest-growing populations, why are we still waiting for an upgrade? We should be getting another high school. Education is quite diabolical. If we can’t look after the kids what have we got?”
Cr Griffin said the school had a plan to upgrade the Maddingley campus to accommodate the growing number of students but was reliant on about $15million in funding.
Other sectors that missed out in Moorabool were health, transport, roads and housing affordability.
While country transport was given a boost, with hundreds of millions of dollars to be invested over the next four years to improve the V/Line network, Cr Griffin said “the devil will be in the detail”.
“I’ve heard nothing to say there will be any more trains or extra stops in Bacchus Marsh or Ballan.”
Treasurer Kim Wells said the budget was the most difficult budget for at least a decade.
“Conditions are tough; hard decisions had to be made, efficiencies had to be found, but despite all this we are delivering a surplus.”
Cr Griffin said he was counting on tonight’s federal budget to deliver greater funding to the outer west.
“The federal government has given bonuses to primary schools through grants; why can’t they do the same for secondary schools?”
Melton MP Don Nardella said he was bitterly disappointed in the results of last week’s “appalling” budget.
“There was nothing announced for the kids at the college. There’s half a school there studying in portables,” he said.
“It’s very strange that they are ignoring the needs of the growing population but are expanding the urban growth boundary.
“You can’t entice people to outer suburbs but ignore all that comes with a growing population. The message they are sending is: we don’t care about you in the outer suburbs.”
Bacchus Marsh College did not respond before the Weekly went to print.
