Tuesday, 18 November 2025

 David ETTERSHANK (Western Metropolitan) (23:36): (2136) My adjournment is for the Minister for Development Victoria and Precincts and relates to the Sunshine station master plan. Sunshine is the only precinct in Melbourne recognised as a metropolitan activity centre, an employment and innovation precinct, a priority precinct and a transport superhub, and we are informed that there is more super on the way, with a $4.1 billion commitment to the new Sunshine station redevelopment in partnership with the Commonwealth.

However, Sunshine should not just be a place to travel through on the way to the airport. It has the potential to be so much more. I was fortunate enough to attend the recent West of Melbourne Economic Development Alliance conference, where Sunshine was touted as a natural hub to become Melbourne’s second CBD. Just like Sydney’s Parramatta, widely regarded as a successful second CBD, Sunshine is well placed to be a self-sufficient urban centre with its own connectivity, commercial centre, civic amenities and public spaces. WOMEDA’s Western Growth paper warns that unless there is a step change in the way that governments and business think about this region, more than half the workers in the west are projected to be commuting out of the region by 2034.

In October 2022 the state government committed $143 million to implementing the first stage of the Sunshine station master plan. However, limited progress has been made on this commitment. This project has the capacity to unlock $8 billion in private investment opportunities, as well as to create 29,000 jobs and to attract 43,000 new residents to the area by 2051. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to get a second CBD right.

Implementing the Sunshine station master plan concurrently with the Sunshine superhub works will be critical to minimising overall disruption to surrounding businesses and the community. So the action I seek is for the minister to reaffirm her commitment to the master plan with clear delivery timeframes and outline a whole-of-government approach to the precinct.