By Victoria Stone-Meadows
The Victorian Coalition Population Taskforce hosted a forum in Cranbourne on Friday 24 February to discuss the challenges faced by residents of the booming south-east suburbs.
The forum was chaired by MP Tim Smith, who also chairs the taskforce, and was attended by coalition MPs Gordon Rich-Phillips and Inga Peulich as well as City of Casey Mayor Sam Aziz.
The taskforce was officially launched by Victorian Opposition Leader Matthew Guy on 15 November 2016 and will focus on ways to entice the state’s growing population away from Melbourne’s suburbs and into regional areas.
The taskforce will also be investigating issues surrounding jobs, housing, services, and transport infrastructure to manage the growing population of the state.
Cr Aziz said the forum was a positive step in informing future policy around population growth in the south-east.
“It was a great step forward in framing policy for managing the population growth in the south-east,” he said.
“I gave them some inserting points such as how critical it is for road and transport infrastructure to support the massive population.
“I urged the MPs present to put pressure on the State Government to move on the $500 million offer from the Federal Government for the road network.”
Cr Aziz also spoke about the need for a tailored approach to rate capping that takes into account the needs of councils operating in growth areas.
“The consensus was that a populist and generalist rate capping across all councils does not work,” he said.
“It might work for a council like Stonnington but for a council like Casey which is required to deliver $50 or $60 million of infrastructure every year it doesn’t work.”
The taskforce is made up of members from research institutes, universities, as well as public and private sector interest groups.
It will hold more community meeting and forums in Shepparton, Ballarat, Geelong, Bendigo, the Latrobe Valley, Wodonga and Mildura before delivering a final report to MP Matthew Guy late in the year.
