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Praise for Cranbourne East extension

The Public Transport Users Association (PTUA) has praised the Victorian Liberal Party for committing to deliver yet another Labor broken promise with the delivery of the Cranbourne East rail extension.

“The announcement of the Cranbourne East rail extension is a victory for Melbourne’s south east and the City of Casey which has tirelessly campaigning for this much needed infrastructure in Melbourne’s fastest growing urban area”, said PTUA Vice-President Alex Makin. “A developer contribution was levied for Cranbourne East and it is fitting that this is used to deliver this promised rail extension.”

In 1999 the then Bracks Opposition pledged to deliver the Cranbourne East extension since the “$4m extension will service the new residential developments and the East Cranbourne community centre” (Page 9, Rebuilding a Transport Network, Labor’s Plan, 1999). The project was since dropped and was not included within the recently released Transport and Liveability Statement (Meeting Our Transport Challenges). Cranbourne East, known as Casey Fields, is a designated activity centre under Melbourne 2030.

“Like the situation in South Morang the Bracks Government has once again deceived Melbourne’s suburbs by failing to deliver this essential project. The fact is, that under the Bracks Government the extension to Cranbourne East has completely fallen off the agenda”, said Mr. Makin. “Rather than deliver its key commitments Labor would rather invent bogus costs to defend its appalling record of inaction.”

While ‘capacity limitations’ are cited as Labor’s reluctance to undertake the project, the ALP has recently pledged to abolish zone three public transport fares which extends to Cranbourne and Cranbourne East. The ALP previously claimed that capacity limitations meant that zone three could not be abolished.

“As seen by the recent announcements to scrap zone three, capacity limitations are a complete and utter fabrication invented to excuse seven years of inaction. The people of Cranbourne East and Casey deserve nothing less than the fulfillment of the original Labor promise made over seven years ago in 1999. The Victorian Liberals have shown they have a vision for Melbourne’s southeast and we look forward to further announcements over the coming weeks”, concluded Mr. Makin.