Wakeling slams region’s budget ‘snub’

FERNTREE Gully MP Nick Wakeling has slammed the State Government for ‘snubbing’ his electorate in its 2009-10 budget.
Mr Wakeling had called on the State Government to allocate funds for a Dorset Road extension study, specialist education in Knox and to improve hospital and dental waiting lists.
He said the government had ignored vital infrastructure in the area. “The budget papers fail to identify one major upgrade to key services such as education, public transport and roads in the Ferntree Gully electorate,” he said.
“The Brumby Labor Government has again snubbed my community.”
He said not one school in the electorate would receive a State Government upgrade.
“Furthermore, it appears that the former Ferntree Gully school sites on Dorset Road will continue to remain behind cyclone fences,” he said.
A State Government spokesman said all Victorians would benefit from the budget, which would create more than 35,000 jobs.
He said dental times would be reduced in a blitz that included funding for 1000 extra treatments in Ferntree Gully over the next two years.
“Knox Community Health Service was one of only eight across the state to be boosted,” he said.
He said Ferntree Gully residents would also see public transport improvements.
“More trains are being introduced across network and there will be greater investment in bus lines,” he said.
He said the Ferntree Gully Railway Station would also receive its upgrade to premium status.
“The Liberal Party have yet to announce a policy that would benefit the residents of Ferntree Gully, let alone the rest of the state,” he said.