The south-west has benefited from about $150 million of funding that independent politician James Purcell says highlights the value of making the seat of South West Coast marginal at the state election on November 24.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Mr Purcell, who has been the Upper House member for Western Victoria, said his last four years in the Western Victoria seat of the legislative council had proved the benefits of being "proudly independent".
He urged voters to back independents in the South West Coast lower house seat election as they offered the region the best chance of getting the funding and political attention it deserved.
"I've managed to secure over $150 million in project funding for the south-west over the past four years through my upper house seat," Mr Purcell said.
"I've used my crossbench position to negotiate funding for many small community and major local developments, as well as having the deciding vote in several pieces of legislation and instigating legislative changes that bring priceless benefits to the south-west."
Mr Purcell said he was encouraged to run for the South West Coast seat by the results achieved of independent MP Suzanna Sheed in Shepparton who attracted $600 million for her electorate.
"You can't deny that independents hold unique power in parliament and are exceptionally strong advocates for their electorates,” Mr Purcell said.
"There are no party politics games to play, we just get on and do our jobs."
Mr Purcell said some of the funding he had been directly responsible includes:
- $7 million for Warrnambool’s Reid Oval upgrade,
- $400,000 for netball facilities at the Koroit Netball Football Club,
- $288,000 for new lighting at Portland's Hanlon Park,
- $14.6 million for the Warrnambool Special Development School,
- $7 million for South West Healthcare,
- $4.2 million for the Moyne Health upgrades,
- $114 million for Melbourne to Warrnambool train line upgrades; and
- $2 million for Port Fairy Bowls Club.
"It's great to see so much money flowing into improvements across the south-west and to see the long term benefits to jobs and infrastructure," Mr Purcell said.
“We banned fracking, we won funding for suicide prevention programs and we raised stamp duty exemption levels for first home buyers in regional areas to make it easier for young farmers to buy land."
Mr Purcell's campaign to bring government attention to Deakin University’s decision to pull out of its Warrnambool campus was instrumental in reversing the decision.
