WARRNAMBOOL mayor Michael Neoh has called on the Labor Party to back its local candidates in the push to secure extra services along the Warrnambool rail line.
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Cr Neoh made the call following comments from ALP candidate for South West Coast Roy Reekie in The Standard on Saturday and a rally at the Colac Railway Station, which was attended by independents and candidates from minor parties to show support for increased services.
Mr Reekie said he backed extra services along the line, despite no commitment from his party, but also called for a longer term vision to upgrade line infrastructure.
Cr Neoh said he was “a little bit miffed” Labor hadn’t shown its support. “This is a key priority of both the Great South Coast Group and the G21 Alliance. It’s not often that two groups work together on one project,” Cr Neoh said.
“It’s baffling Labor haven’t come out to help candidates support their communities. Public Transport should be bipartisan. We will be hopeful until a minute before polls close on Saturday the party will support their candidates in Roy in South West Coast, Libby (Coker) in Polwarth and Jaala (Pulford) and Jacinta (Ermacora) in the upper house.”
Cr Neoh said both G21 and Great South Coast understood the need for upgraded rail infrastructure, but weren’t prepared to wait years for upgrades.
“We don’t want to wait eight years for upgrades to bring fast trains. We need extra services now and then work towards upgrades,” he said. “Extra services along this line have been a priority for many years.”
Cr Neoh said Saturday’s rally in Colac was a great show of support from the independent and minor party candidates.
“It’s not often you see cross party support like that for a political pledge, but everyone realises how important extra rail services are to this area,” he said.
“Every council between Mount Gambier and Geelong support extra services. Now we need the Labor Party to do the same.”