By CASEY NEILL
GREATER Dandenong jobs could be on the line unless Labor changes its port plan.
Committee for Dandenong and City of Casey are urging local Opposition MPs to support the Port of Hastings and ditch the party’s Geelong port development.
But Labor candidate for Dandenong Gabrielle Williams said the Hastings plan would flood local roads with freight trucks.
The State Government announced $110 million in the 2012/13 State Budget for Port of Hastings planning.
The State Opposition is instead supporting plans for a port on the western side of Port Phillip between Geelong and Melbourne, dubbed Bay West.
Committee for Dandenong spokeswoman Jill Walsh said supporting the Port of Hastings would send a clear message of support for manufacturing in Dandenong.
“There has been a lot of publicity around Geelong and the western suburbs, but no big job announcements for Dandenong,” she said.
“Dandenong South has a large number of auto component parts manufacturers, who won’t be beneficiaries of large redundancies. What they want most, I’m sure, is jobs.”
Ms Walsh said the Port of Hastings would generate confidence within the community.
“The new dedicated freight rail link from Hastings to Dandenong would remove many of the large trucks from our roads, with benefits to the environment, the competitive advantage to Dandenong manufacturers both to export and import goods,” she said.
She said port would bring “jobs and more jobs”.
“Initially in developing the infrastructure but certainly with the attraction to new investment in terms of manufacturing, retail, etcetera,” she said.
Casey councillor Sam Aziz said the Port of Hastings could generate 5700 jobs in the region by the mid-2030s and 15,200 jobs by the 2050s.
He challenged Dandenong MP John Pandazopoulos and his colleagues to “stand up and advocate for the development” and the jobs it would attract “instead of limply following a party position which significantly and detrimentally affects their own constituents”.
The retiring Mr Pandazopoulos did not respond to questions from the Journal, but Ms Williams hopes to replace him at the November election and said the party’s position was clear.
“A comprehensive and transparent cost benefit analysis should be undertaken to test how Bay West stands up against other possible sites, including Hastings,” she said.
Ms Williams said there were many issues of concern to local residents associated with the Port of Hastings, including “the prospect of freight trains running frequently through our suburbs and thousands of additional trucks on local roads”.
“Hastings requires around $10 billion in road and rail funding to get goods in and out, and without that additional investment, the Nepean Highway and Dandenong Rail corridor will be flooded with trucks and trains 24 hours a day,” she said.
City of Greater Dandenong mayor Jim Memeti said the council had supported the Port of Hastings plan in the past, but didn’t yet have enough information about the Geelong plan to support one over the other.
“I think it would be fantastic to have the Port of Hastings,” he said.
“But we need to know what the other options are.”
See page 12 for more on the Port of Hastings’ potential impact on Greater Dandenong.
