That outcome, advocates for the west have argued, would dramatically reduce average commute times, which currently nudge an hour for City of Wyndham residents. WoMEDA chair Professor Peter Dawkins says Sunshine could become “Melbourne’s Parramatta” and claims it would generate significant benefits throughout the city’s west.
The Age’s Sophie Aubrey and Patrick Hatch explored the idea of Sunshine as a second CBD in this story. No matter which part of Victoria you’re from, I urge you to take a look at their thought-provoking report.
Overhauling Sunshine wasn’t the only idea to generate lively discussion in the room. This story from Adam Carey got people talking about missed economic opportunities in pockets of the west. And there’s the possible prioritisation of the western portion of the Suburban Rail Loop, first raised in this opinion piece for The Age by Professor Dawkins and former premier Steve Bracks.
WoMEDA’s western growth strategy paper considers ways to attract investment, grow economic activity and improve liveability in the west through a range of measures.
It’s a noble mission. And the calibre and enthusiasm of the people in the room – including some of Melbourne’s top thinkers in business, education and the public sector – was enough to make me think that the conversation might just generate some genuine momentum.
It was pleasing to see genuine engagement from our political class in this discussion. They engaged and listened. Federal Housing Minister Clare O’Neil gave the opening night address, taking aim at NIMBY councils in Melbourne’s middle-ring suburbs for leaving parts of the west to shoulder an unfair portion of the city’s growth. Premier Jacinta Allan and Opposition Leader Brad Battin addressed the crowd and fielded questions from the audience and our state political editor Chip Le Grand. The premier spruiked her government’s investment in the Sunshine rail “superhub”, while the opposition leader pledged to appoint a productivity commissioner if elected next year.
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Deputy Premier Ben Carroll and a host of other government ministers and MPs, as well as the opposition MP with responsibility for Melbourne’s west, Moira Deeming, spent time participating in discussions and downloading the abundant wisdom and creativity in the room at The Refectory at Werribee Mansion on Thursday.
I’m grateful to all the Age staff who threw their support behind the Go West project and the WoMEDA summit, particularly Selma Milovanovic, Sophie Aubrey, Adam Carey, Patrick Hatch, Chip Le Grand, Katie Bice, Annika Smethurst, Marta Pascual Juanola, Gemma Grant, Matthew Absalom-Wong, our wonderful photographers and the many sub-editors and editors who treated this project with the care it deserved.
The Age has aimed to be constructive in telling the story of Melbourne’s west through this series, but we’ve not shied away from the significant challenges facing the region either. Thefts in the City of Wyndham were up more than 40 per cent last year. Residents in parts of the west have limited access to some services and are poorly served by transport infrastructure. Our story about potential pollution from the West Gate Tunnel air stacks ruffled feathers in government (one minister wrongly labelled it disinformation) but was an important contribution to the discussion.
Scrutiny is not always comfortable. Facts are not always convenient. But how many of Melbourne’s biggest challenges have been resolved without public discussion?
WoMEDA deserves a lot of credit for starting this particular conversation. Let’s hope this is just the start. If Brisbane 2032 is the Olympic catchcry, then I don’t see why West of Melbourne 2050 can’t also find a place in the Victorian vernacular.
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