Greens candidate Matthew Kirwan says the Cranbourne corridor will be one of his top priorities if elected to represent the South-Eastern Metropolitan Region at next year’s Victorian State Election, arguing that the suburbs have been “neglected”.
Mr Kirwan, a former City of Greater Dandenong councillor who has contested multiple State and Federal elections for the Greens, said the 2026 election presents a real opportunity to return a Greens voice to the upper house for the south east.
“This seat is winnable for the Greens because we’ve done it before,” he said, referring to Nina Springle’s 2014 victory.
“With the Allan Government’s declining popularity, I see a real chance for the Greens to reclaim the seat.
“If you actually look at the polls, the Labor primary vote is significantly down. The reason why they’re ahead of the Liberal Party on a two-party preferred basis across the state is because of projected preference flows.”
Mr Kirwan said the suburbs in the South-Eastern Metropolitan Region, from Cheltenham to Frankston and then across to Cranbourne, up to Berwick and then up to Wantirna South, show the neglect by the State Government. He used Cranbourne as an example.
“Cranbourne is just a good example because it’s not a marginal seat. It’s being neglected,” he said.
“A Labor government talks about working families, well, here are the working families. They’re not wealthy. They’re working hard to bring up their families, and they’re being neglected.
“You only have to go to the main street of Cranbourne to see that there’s been no public investment.
“They’re trumpeting this new community hospital, but it’s really just a shinier new building for the existing community health service. What Cranbourne needs is a major public hospital.”
He pointed out that within twenty years, the Cranbourne-Clyde corridor is projected to have 350,000 residents — yet locals still have to drive to Frankston, Dandenong or Berwick for hospital care.
Mr Kirwan argued the same neglect extends to schools and public transport.
“Schools in Clyde and Cranbourne East already have over a thousand students, and they’re overcrowded. The Cranbourne Line extension was promised 10 years ago – still hasn’t been built,” he said.
“We’ve got hundreds of thousands of people moving into this corridor without public transport and with poorly funded schools.”
He said the Greens would push for revitalising central Cranbourne, including better streetscapes, improved bus links from the railway station to the town centre, and new “third spaces” — public indoor areas where residents can gather without needing to spend money.
As a Greens candidate, Mr Kirwan has also been motivated by issues like climate change.
“Cranbourne and its surrounding suburbs have some of the lowest tree coverage in Melbourne,” he said.
“It’s lower-income communities who will be most affected by extreme heat.
“Our tree canopy cover is worse in suburbs that have lower incomes. These people are trapped in their homes because they have poor public transport.
“Planting trees now will make a difference in twenty years — but we have to start.”
Mr Kirwan believed the investment he envisioned in the Cranbourne corridor could be funded by shifting priorities away from mega-projects like the Suburban Rail Loop (SRL).
“A project that has no business case. The Federal Government have actually said they don’t want to fund further until there’s a revised business case,” he said.
“It’s not the mega-projects that make the difference. An extension of a train line with only three stations can make a difference.”
Mr Kirwan said his working-class background in Keysborough and Noble Park helps him understand the challenges facing families pushed further south by rising housing costs. According to his engagement with the community, low-income people can no longer afford to live in Dandenong, so they move to Cranbourne, but the services haven’t followed them.
“If elected, Cranbourne and the surrounding suburbs would be my focus because it’s part of the south-east that’s most in need,” Mr Kirwan said.
