Only days to go before the election and Ballarat people are still waiting for attention from the major parties.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Liberal challenger Sarah Wade is yet to announce any Ballarat-specific projects or policies, and Labor’s most recent significant announcement was $1.5 million for the Parwan Employment Project on the weekend.
The Coalition’s mental health policy will have an impact Australia-wide and Ms Wade says it will mean a boost in frontline care.
In the days since The Courier last updated the election wishlist, that one policy is the only addition.
Since then neighbouring marginal seat Corangamite has received another $78 million in promises from the Liberal side alone.
Committee for Ballarat chair Janet Dore said Ballarat had been “ignored”.
“I’ve been underwhelmed with the lack of recognition for infrastructure support,” she said.
“(Candidates) need to be recognising that there are infrastructure needs within this important regional city, in terms of roads, rail, connectivity.”
“We’ve been pretty much ignored I think.”
She welcomed the Labor promise of $5 million for the Ballarat Sports and Events Centre but said even lobbying for funding was harder this election.
“We’ve found it extremely difficult to access people outside of Ballarat,” she said.
“We would normally have gone to Canberra, but they were already dispersed into all parts of the country (this time).”
Ms Dore said she still held out hope the waste to energy project at the Ballarat West Employment Zone, the emergency services hub at the airport and recurrent funding for the Museum of Australian Democracy would get support from the major parties.
Commerce Ballarat chair David Wright said he supported funding for the basketball stadium as it would help boost local small business, and also called for CBD investment from the next government.
“Obviously we want to see government investment in Ballarat, in particular in the CBD,” he said.
“We are supportive of improved sports facilities, which underpins our tourism sector. Which in turn of course, supports small business in Ballarat.”
Mr Wright said the push for government funding for local projects would not end on July 2 with the general vote.
“The most important thing is that moving forward post-election; If Ballarat’s not successful in achieving major funding as a result of the election, that doesn’t mean the gates are shut for the future. It’s important those conversations continue post-election,” he said.