The politically motivated attack on the City of Greater Geelong by Geelong state Labor MPs demonstrates not only their blatant hypocrisy but incompetence.
The state Labor government has presided over a litany of project delivery failures and budget blowouts across our region amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars.
Almost every major project has been impacted by State Labor’s incompetence.
- Labor failed to deliver the promised $160 million Geelong Women and Children’s Hospital facility (originally costed at $100 million) to which the former Coalition government committed $50 million. The paediatric emergency centre upgrade to which the Coalition committed $10 million is also in the never never.
- The Waurn Ponds to South Geelong rail upgrade, backed by $750 million from the Coalition, is not only taking a ridiculous 10 years to deliver but has been reduced in scope, with the duplicated rail between Marshall and South Geelong cut from the existing project. Geelong fast rail is progressing at a snail’s pace, with no answer as to whether Avalon railway station will be included which is critical for our region. The $10 million planning study to extend the rail to Armstrong Creek, funded by the Federal Coalition, has been delayed along with the business plan for the duplicated rail tunnel to Geelong station.
- The components of the Geelong City Deal for which State Labor is responsible have been completely mismanaged. The delivery of the Geelong Convention Centre and Exhibition Centre is dramatically behind schedule after the state government took more than two years just to acquire the land from Deakin University. Labor concocted a fake sod turn for this project earlier this year, given the planning and design work is not close to being completed. There has been a terrible failure of progress at the Twelve Apostles and projects at Lorne’s Point Grey and Apollo Bay Harbour, backed by substantial Commonwealth funding, have stalled through planning incompetence and funding failure.
- Stage 1 of the Barwon Heads Rd Upgrade was delayed because the Andrews government reneged on its commitment to fully fund this project. It only got underway after the Morrison Government came to the rescue and delivered $292 million or 80 per cent of the funding.
- Geelong state Labor MPs have dishonestly criticised council knowing that many local projects across our region have been held up by state government planning delays along with a lack of certainty created by Labor’s failure to finalise its Distinctive Area and Landscapes (DAL) policy. For instance, the Coalition’s commitment to upgrade the St Leonards foreshore has been stalled because of state government delays in providing coastal planning consent.
- Council is delivering many important local projects including the North Bellarine Aquatic and Leisure Centre to which the state government has contributed no funding, a blatant example of Ms Neville’s hypocrisy.
- There has been no safety upgrade of Grubb Road in Ocean Grove as Labor promised, despite $5 million from the Federal Coalition, which is putting lives at risk. In fact, Labor is so incompetent that it can’t even decide a bus route through central Geelong let alone fix the public transport crisis on the Bellarine or build the Bellarine Link without destroying dozens of homes.
This letter demonstrates that Geelong Labor MPs are more interested in bullying than in delivering.
With Labor responsible for some $28 billion of budget blowouts across the state, the best way to ensure that projects are delivered on time and on budget is to elect the Liberal Nationals in November.