Tara Murray
Brimbank council’s campaign for better funding and infrastructure in Brimbank as part of the Melbourne Airport Rail centres around four key areas.
At last week’s council meeting, the council released it’s ‘Transforming Brimbank, Let’s Build it Better Together’ document which will form the backbone of the council’s advocacy on the project.
It follows the council and residents launching petitions for the state government to reconsider its plans for a proposed Airport Rail flyover via Sunshine and adopt a staged approach to delivering MAR by initially utilising existing at-grade tracks.
The council is planning to launch an official campaign next month.
The council’s plan wants to leverage the existing funding and commitments of the Melbourne Airport Rail project, seeking major additional investments across the Sunshine priority precinct, the Sunshine superhub, Albion station and the Albion quarter and sunRISE (Research, Innovation, Science and Enterprise) precinct.
They want Sunshine station redeveloped into a regional super hub, Albion station constructed into a fit-for-purpose public transport interchange and the integration of both stations into the surrounding precincts.
Brimbank Mayor Ranka Rasic said the council is calling for the establishment of a ‘Brimbank community offset package’, which recognises Brimbank will experience the brunt of a decade of construction and disruption for the benefit of other communities across the state.
She highlighted previous state government programs which saw funding allocated to areas affected by large infrastructure projects.
The council is also calling for the establishment of a business, jobs, skills and procurement taskforce.
Councillor Virginia Tachos said the taskforce was one of the most important parts of the campaign to ensure that local people are getting roles in the build of this project.
“This is a call to action for our community to deliver and receive the full suite of what was promised by the state government even if it is a staged process,“ she said.
“We understand that it can’t all be delivered at once but we want the full suite of what was promised in full.
“We want to maximise local community outcomes and not just see it as a transport project, we want to realise the full potential of the sunshine precinct.”
