By Ethan Benedicto
As the election date draws nearer, Liberal Bruce candidate Zahid Safi has spoken on his vision for the City of Casey regarding the council’s 2025-26 commonwealth pre-budget submission.
The submission highlights priority projects in the LGA, as well as initiatives that the council has deemed important in transforming “the way the community connects to jobs, education, recreation, and services they need”.
On housing, Safi echoed the Liberals’ scheme, where he said that an elected government would give first-home-buyers the “choice to access up to $50,000 from their super to buy their first home”.
“The money initially withdrawn from the super would need to be returned when the house is sold to support retirement.
“This will also include supporting older women to overcome the prohibitive challenge of saving for a home deposit by giving them the choice to use a portion of their super savings towards their deposit,” he said.
Furthermore, Safi added that the Liberals would “unlock up to 500,00 new homes” by funding essential infrastructure such as water, power, and sewage at housing development sites.
“We will also implement a two-year ban on foreign investors and temporary residents purchasing existing homes – this is aimed at increasing housing supply and easing demand, respectively,” he said.
The current Albanese Labor government introduced the same foreign investor ban earlier this year, corresponding with a segment of the Coalition and Peter Dutton’s 2024 call to slash the permanent migration program from 185,000 to 140,000.
Housing remains the biggest concern of Casey residents, and with the LGA currently home to more than 410,000 people, with a population forecast of more than 550,000 by 2041, Safi said that “we need to invest in our community’s future”.
From the Salvation Army’s social justice stocktake 2025, the report states that in Casey, housing was the top issue, followed by mental health and financial hardship and inclusion.
The Salvos’ statistics stated that 76.2 per cent of residents identified housing affordability and homelessness as an issue in the community, and 34.3 per cent as an issue for themselves.
“Under Labor, funding for community infrastructure has dropped; the Liberals will restore local government funding to levels seen during the previous Coalition government,” Safi said.
In recent months, Safi has announced a swathe of financial commitments for key infrastructure and open space plans in Casey.
These include: $200,000 for Sweeney Reserve’s tennis court renewal, $459,101 for Edwin Flack Reserve’s athletics pavilion and $295,350 for its athletics terracing/shelter, $85,000 for improvements to the Harkaway Scout Camp, and $691,080 for Max Pawsey Reserve’s footy and cricket pavilion upgrade.
Safi also announced $6.5 million for the Afghan Islamic Community Centre earlier this month during an Eid prayer event in Dandenong.
More on Sweeney Reserve, Safi also announced $210,300 for softball floodlighting, $200,000 for oval fencing renewal, $60,000 for the netball court and $240,000 for a dog park.
The latter commitment was already announced by the Victorian State Government in March.
The document also called for more mental health services, which Safi said was something that the “Liberals are focused on delivering (with) a world-class health system, with better health outcomes in the areas that are in desperate need of investment and reform”.
“That’s why we have already announced we will invest $9 billion into Medicare to boost bulk billing, and ensure all Australians have timely and affordable access to a doctor.
“This will include doubling Medicare-subsidised mental health sessions from 10 to 20 on a permanent basis… and increase training programs to rebuild the GP workforce and encourage junior doctors to become GPs,” he said.
Small businesses have also been a large voice in Casey when it comes to the cost-of-living crisis, with stories of struggling to stay afloat all too common.
Current Bruce Labor MP, Julian Hill, has been an outspoken supporter of the Future Made in Australia Bill, a motion pitched to stimulate growth through domestic manufacturing and deliver long-term economic benefits to areas like Bruce.
Safi, however, said that “for all the talk about Labor’s Future Made in Australia programme, the opposite is actually the fact”.
“Less is being made in Australia, and more is being made abroad; the programme is a lesson that no government can subsidise the economy to success.
“Under Labor, we will continue to see a hollowing out of the economy, and that industries and businesses will continue to collapse in record numbers or simply move operations offshore.”
He added that the Coalition aims to build a stronger economy through incentivising businesses by cutting taxes, red tape and lowering the cost of energy.
“We know the price of electricity and gas is one of the biggest barriers to investment in Victoria and across Australia,” he said.
“We will lower prices and increase supply to reinvigorate manufacturing and support Australian businesses.”
