Community Voice
By Nina Kelly, Keysborough South Action Group spokeswoman
KEYSBOROUGH’S population has exploded in the past 10 years.
Back in October 2012, then-Victorian Planning Minister Matthew Guy called Keysborough one of the largest infill projects undertaken in Melbourne’s south east corridor.
With population growth, comes strain on existing infrastructure.
In 2011, without taking into consideration this population growth, the Department of Education closed a number of local public schools.
Public transport is also a major issue for the community, with infrequent services and no connection to train stations or the new Dandenong South industrial estates.
With the closure of Maralinga Primary School in January this year, Keysborough South Action Group (KSAG) was formed to advocate for additional public school provisioning for the region.
As we spoke to residents about the primary school campaign, further infrastructure issues were raised such as the lack of public transport options, community centre facilities, day care and kindergarten.
Ten years ago in 2005, the first residents began moving into the new residential estates.
The second major boom began in 2010 and since the 2011 Census an additional 2400 households have been constructed.
There are about 1150 school-aged children living in the Keysborough South community.
The overall plan was to have the area populated by 2023, however developers like Somerfield are seven years ahead in land sales and are scheduled to be completed by the end of next year.
These strong land sales have forced missing infrastructure already in high demand into a critical tipping point for residents.
The community banded together and presented a petition with 1084 signatures in June this year, requesting a school be opened for the 2018 school year.
We want the school opened in 2018 to allow today’s three-year-old to attend Prep in safe walking distance from their home.
As a community, we find it disappointing to say there have been a number of public primary and secondary school closures in the area within recent years given the significant population growth.
This includes the former Keysborough Primary, Maralinga Primary and Coomoora Secondary College.
Why do we want a local school? With safety being the number one concern for locals, they want a local state primary school that is within walking distance, so children do not have to cross two major roads – one an arterial road – each with six lanes of traffic to attend school every day.
A VicRoads report from 2013 found 33,000 vehicles used the Dandenong Bypass daily.
The volume of vehicles is set to increase once the next link of the extension opens next year.
KSAG’s advocacy partnership with Greater Dandenong Council has been productive.
The council is not responsible for school provisioning and could have walked away. However the council conducted a study in March on behalf of residents, identifying three possible sites for a primary school.
In September, the council, KSAG and Department of Education met to discuss the school.
We have also met with Shadow Education Minister Nick Wakeling and joined the Our Children Our Schools alliance.
Following on from these meetings, a formal presentation as to when the school should be opened will be made to Education Minister James Merlino later this year.
Funding will be determined in next May’s State Budget.
KSAG’s second focus is the bus route extension. Keysborough South residents are petitioning for a bus route because there is no public transport within three kilometres and it’s isolating the community.
It was an election promise made by a number of parties in last year’s State Election, however we still have no bus.
People should have access to essential services.
Again, residents have to cross the six-lane arterial the Dandenong Bypass to reach the closest bus stops. For young people and those with disabilities, it’s limiting job opportunities and access to TAFE or university.
Our main goals with the petition are to link Keysborough South residents to Mordialloc railway station, the Dandenong rail line, the Dandenong South industrial estate, a new shopping centre on Hutton Road and the Parkmore Shopping Centre.
The council has constructed the bus stops and the bus company is ready to go, yet the State Government has not approved funding in this year’s budget.
This will be the second petition from the community. The last petition was run by another community group.
Find KSAG on Facebook, at a council forum at Springers Leisure Centre on Wednesday 11 November or at a bus forum on Wednesday 18 November at a venue to be confirmed.
