Ballarat car parking
Joe McCRACKEN (Western Victoria) (13:21): (135) My question is to Ms Shing in her capacity as Minister for Regional Development. On 2 May you provided a response to me regarding an adjournment matter concerning 1000 car parks that were promised for the Ballarat CBD, which was first announced in 2018. There are 113 car park spaces already constructed at White Flat oval and at Havelock Street, as you mentioned. You also announced another 400 car parks recently at the Ballarat Base Hospital. Additionally, you said 136 car parks are coming online in the next six months, some at Market Street in Ballarat and some at Maddingley Park in Bacchus Marsh. So, Minister, how do these extra, additional spaces at Bacchus Marsh help alleviate the parking concerns in Ballarat CBD when Bacchus Marsh is 45 minutes away?
Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for Water, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Commonwealth Games Legacy, Minister for Equality) (13:22): Thank you, Mr McCracken, for the opportunity to talk about regional car parking and the work that we are doing to alleviate the challenges of a rapidly growing rural and regional population. As you are aware, we are making sure that we are turning our minds actively to providing additional car parking to meet that demand now and into the future. And, as you correctly identified, part of that work is about making sure that we have spots in Ballarat, also across the Latrobe Valley – you should visit sometime; it is a little way away but has a lot to commend it – and then also Bacchus Marsh, which you also referred to and about which I answered in your previous question.
In Ballarat the 1000 new car spots are on top of the existing car parks, as they have been provided by the Ballarat GovHub and the Ballarat station precinct upgrades. Stage 1, as you are aware, comprises seven sites, and we have also talked through that detail, having currently delivered around 357 of those spots, with 113 across Ballarat CBD and 244 elsewhere. We have then got a stage 2 process, which is about making sure we move on to the remaining stage 2 sites to fulfil the commitment to deliver 2000 car parks, which as you are aware was the commitment.
When we talk about alleviating the pressure and the demands on regional cities, when you refer to the proximity of Bacchus Marsh and Ballarat, it is important to note that the delivery of car spots to Bacchus Marsh actually alleviates the pressure on car parking and capacity in Ballarat because people are not travelling to that hub in order to go elsewhere. It is also really important to note that we are continuing to partner with council and to work alongside the community to make sure that we are delivering these car parks alongside the additional work that is going on on the ground. This is about making sure that we partner with the hospital, that we partner with council and that we work to take the pressure off Ballarat, including through those sites elsewhere – and Bacchus Marsh, as I have identified, is one of those sites. We are really looking forward to making sure that those pressures are alleviated into the future as we co-design these opportunities for better connectivity.
Joe McCRACKEN (Western Victoria) (13:24): As a supplementary, I appreciate that Ms Shing has upped the ante to 2000 car parks instead of 1000 –
Harriet Shing: Across the board.
Joe McCRACKEN: Okay. Thank you for that. From my calculations I can only see that 113 car parks have actually been delivered as part of those 1000 car parks, and that has been over a five-year period from 2018. That is approximately 23 car parks per year. Going at that rate, to fulfil the 887 that are remaining, that is only 38 years to go. Can you please tell us when the 1000 car parks will be fulfilled for the Ballarat community? A specific time would be really good so that I can go back to the Ballarat community and say, ‘This is when we can expect them to be done.’
Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for Water, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Commonwealth Games Legacy, Minister for Equality) (13:25): Thank you, Mr McCracken, for that. Again, this is a challenge that nobody in Victoria or indeed around Australia or globally has been immune from. The way in which the pandemic has created all sorts of workforce and material challenges for the delivery of major projects is something that we are also still working our way through. Just to correct any misinformation earlier, it is 2000 across the sites within regional Victoria, with 1000 in Ballarat. This is about making sure that we have that free car parking commitment alongside the City of Ballarat, and we are working with the greatest level of urgency, including in partnership with the council, to deliver those spots. We are looking forward to making sure, for example, that we can have those spots at the base hospital completed in 2025 and that we can also make sure that we are delivering over and above the sites at Havelock Street and Market Street. I want to make sure that we also do this properly. It is a long-term proposition.