ETC Chairperson Cr Samantha Dunn said that the State Government’s announcement to fund the Regional Rail Link and Melbourne Metro would be disappointing to residents of Eastern Melbourne suburbs.

“While more transport planning is desperately needed in the outer East, we keep seeing public transport funds being directed to the same groups of electorates,” Cr Dunn said.

“ETC recently submitted a petition on behalf of more than one million residents in the East who want better transport options. It’s time the government stopped neglecting the East on transport policy,” she said.

>>ends<<

Further Information

Simon Tolstrup, CPR

0408 331 356

A sixty metre long petition demanding the Victorian Government revisit its transport policy was today presented to the Victorian Government.

Mayors and Councillors from seven of Melbourne’s eastern suburban Councils – who represent about a quarter of Melbourne’s population – gathered on the Parliaments steps today to send a message to the Victorian Government that transport needs in the east are not being met.

Presenting the monster petition to the Minister for Transport, Martin Pakula, Eastern Transport Coalition Chairperson Cr Samantha Dunn said that Eastern suburbs residents have been neglected by Government for too long.

“It’s time this government looked seriously at providing sustainable transport options right across Melbourne rather than focussing on a few key electorates,” Cr Dunn said.

 “The Eastern Transport Coalition represents seven councils in the East whose residents are crying out for more public transport. The petition we’re presenting today has over 13,000 signatures, each one of them a demand of Government to end the neglect,” she said.

 Cr Dunn said that the ETC petition called on Victorian Government to address the significant gaps in the provision of and planning for public transport in Greater Dandenong, Knox, Manningham, Maroondah, Monash, Whitehorse, and Yarra Ranges.

The petition seeks commitments from the Government to modify the plan to include:

1. A full and public feasibility study for a heavy rail line to Rowville,
2. A full and public feasibility study for a heavy rail line to Doncaster
3. A greater commitment to the extension of the Metro rail tunnel from Domain to Caulfield,
4. A full and public feasibility study for an increase in capacity on the Belgrave/Lilydale and Glen Waverly lines,
5. Improved facilities for passengers, particularly at interchanges located in central activity districts – Ringwood, Dandenong and Box Hill,
6. Fully accessible public transport facilities and vehicles Cr Dunn said that there was still time for this government to make a commitment to Melbourne’s east.

“This election year provides a perfect opportunity for this government to show that it is listening to the million or so residents east of Warrigal road who are forced to drive their cars to work because they have few viable alternatives,” Cr Dunn said.

Cr Dunn thanked the Minister for Transport for receiving the petition.

“We’re pleased that all sides of Parliament are interested in our issues. Now it’s important that today’s gesture from the Victorian Government results in action,” she said.

Media Release May 4 2010

Today’s release of the state government budget was another missed opportunity to address transport woes in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs, ETC Chair Cr Samantha Dunn said today.

“We were optimistic that today’s budget would provide some kind of assistance to those in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs who do not have access to adequate public transport,” Cr Dunn said.

“On reviewing the budget documents, it appears Government has continued to ignore the needs of over a million eastern suburbs residents,” she said.

Cr Dunn said that while the budget did contain funding for some necessary transport initiatives, Melbourne’s east had missed out again.

“Frankly, we’re disappointed but not surprised. It is time this government looked seriously at providing sustainable transport options right across Melbourne rather than focussing on a few key electorates,” Cr Dunn said.

Cr Dunn said that there was still time for this government to make a commitment to Melbourne’s east.

“This election year provides a perfect opportunity for this government to show that it is listening to the million or so residents east of Warrigal road who are forced to drive their cars to work because they have no viable alternative,” Cr Dunn said.

“ETC will continue to work with the Transport Minister to address the shortfall of sustainable transport options for residents of Melbourne’s east,” she said.

The Eastern Transport Coalition yesterday met with Minister for Transport Martin Pakula to discuss solutions for transport woes in Melbourne’s east, ETC Chair Cr Samantha Dunn said today.

“We have expressed to Minister Pakula that Melbourne’s eastern suburbs do not have access to adequate public transport and he has committed to working with us to hear the needs of our residents,” she said.

Cr Dunn said that while ETC appreciated the Minister’s sentiments, it was important that action would follow.

“We discussed a range of transport solutions with the Minister, from improved bus services to feasibility studies for rail extensions to Doncaster and Rowville,” Cr Dunn said.

“While Government has said that those rail extensions aren’t in the current Victorian Transport Plan, it’s important that feasibility work is done now so that these projects can be implemented faster,” she said.

ETC members have pointed out that the Victorian Transport Plan is chiefly based on Sir Rod Eddington’s 2008 transport report.

“While the Eddington report resulted in some good planning initiatives for inner Melbourne and the West, it doesn’t consider transport east of Warrigal Road,” Cr Dunn said.

“That’s a clear reason why the VTP is struggling to provide for the million or so residents of Melbourne’s eastern suburbs,” she said.

Cr Dunn said that the recently released Bus Service reviews were an opportunity to make some much needed changes.

“The Smart Bus system is very well patronised, mainly because many people out here don’t have any other choice,” Cr Dunn said.

“But they are bursting at the seams, and the recent reviews don’t provide any timeline for when new and more frequent services might happen,” she said.

“We keep hearing that buses are the answer for the East. If that’s the case it needs to be done right,” Cr Dunn said.

FRUSTRATED communities will pressure the Brumby Government for better public transport across Melbourne’s east with the collection of tens of thousands of signatures on a ‘Monster Petition’ launched today.

Eastern Transport Coalition (ETC) chair and Shire of Yarra Ranges councillor Samantha Dunn said “We launched our Monster Petition today at Monash University in Clayton because, despite the huge numbers of students and staff travelling to this campus every day, it is still without adequate public transport infrastructure – it is a metaphor for the neglect of our region over many years”.

Like the suffragettes in 1891 who collected thousands of signatures on a monster petition supporting women’s right to vote, the eastern suburbs were being denied a resource available to people living elsewhere in Melbourne.

“The mayors and CEOs of the seven member councils that make up the ETC have come here today to join with the Monash Student Association, and everyone who is a member of the Monash community, to be the first of what we believe will be thousands of people to sign the Monster Petition,” she said.

Monash Student Association President Julian Campbell said people travelling to Monash University and the adjacent science and innovation precinct, which includes Australia’s only Synchrotron, were among those missing out under the Brumby Government’s Victorian Transport Plan.

“The ETC’s Monster Petition has our full support,” Mr Campbell said.

“We hope that it will finally get the message through to the Brumby Government that public transport is a serious issue in the east, not only for Monash students but for everyone who lives and works in this region.”

The suffragettes’ Monster Petition was about 260metres long and 200mm wide, made of paper glued to cotton and linen and rolled onto a cardboard spindle.

Cr Dunn said the ETC Monster Petition was made of multiple rolls of recyclable synthetic paper, each 15 metres long with two signature columns. The petition is housed in a custom-made timber box to facilitate its transport.

The Monster Petition will travel around the region for the rest of this year, hosted for three weeks by each of the ETC’s seven member councils before being presented to the Victorian Parliament.

Cr Dunn said the ETC was bitterly disappointed that the Victorian Transport Plan did not include any major initiatives to address the significant gaps in the provision of and planning for public transport in our region.

The petition will seek commitments from the Government to modify the plan to include:

1. A full and public feasibility study for a heavy rail line to Rowville,
2. A full and public feasibility study for a heavy rail line to Doncaster
3. A greater commitment to the extension of the Metro rail tunnel from Domain to Caulfield,
4. A full and public feasibility study for an increase in capacity on the Belgrave/Lilydale and Glen Waverly lines,
    
5. Improved facilities for passengers, particularly at interchanges located in central activity districts – Ringwood, Dandenong and Box Hill,
    
6. Fully accessible public transport facilities and vehicles 

“The State Government has never provided a reason why rail extensions to Rowville and Doncaster shouldn’t be built,” Cr Dunn said.

“We’re asking that proper public feasibility studies be conducted to assess the viability of delivering heavy rail services to these two areas.

“Governments have been promising major investment in public transport for the eastern region since 1969. Forty years on and our residents are still waiting.

“We’re putting the Government on notice that it’s time to end the neglect.”

The Eastern Transport Coalition (ETC) represents about one million people living in the municipalities of Monash, Whitehorse, Dandenong, Manningham, Knox, Maroondah and Yarra Ranges.

The ETC advocates for sustainable and integrated transport services to reduce the level of car dependency to secure the economic, social and environmental wellbeing of the Melbourne’s outer east.