The $660 million Commuter Car Park fund was the focus ofa scathing report by the Auditor-General that found 77 per cent of its projects werepledged to Coalition seats. Most were in Melbourne’s east and south-east,where the Liberal Party was defending a string of marginal electorates.
Both sides of politics went to the 2019 election promising extra parking around suburban railway stations. Some of the projects pledged by the Coalition were also on offer from Labor.
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This month,four car parks worth $65 million that were promised for Treasurer Josh Frydenberg’s seat of Kooyong were abandoned in the face of community opposition,large cost blowouts and the axing of one railway station.
In Tuesday’s budget,$18 million will be earmarked for a car park at the Kananook railway station in the Melbourne Labor-held marginal seat of Dunkley. The car park was promised in the 2019 election,was ditched early last year,but has now been saved with extra cash.
The cost of the Kingswood station car park in the Sydney Liberal-held marginal seat of Lindsay was originally forecast at $20 million. In the budget,that will be topped up with another $12.5 million.
Top-ups for stations at Woy Woy and Panania (both NSW) and Hampton in Victoria will also be made. Woy Woy is in the Liberal-held marginal seat of Robertson,which will also be promised $336 million in road upgrades for the town centre and $51.2 million towards a road intersection upgrade.