Overview
- Victoria’s transport secretary Jeroen Weimar said the Melton line will be electrified only after the Sunshine station redevelopment, due around 2030, with Wyndham Vale upgrades to follow and potentially use battery-powered trains instead of full electrification.
- WoMEDA’s new strategy urges a polycentric city with Sunshine as a second CBD, satellite cities at Werribee and Cobblebank, and a priority precinct in Footscray to cut long commutes and retain jobs in the west.
- Population in the west is projected to reach about 1.8 million by 2050 as local jobs lag, with 47.9% of workers already commuting outside the region and that share forecast to pass 50% within a decade.
- The report estimates about 153,000 new homes are needed in the west between 2021 and 2036, while more than 20 central Footscray sites with permits for over 4,000 apartments remain idle, prompting calls for “use it or lose it” planning rules.
- Housing Minister Clare O’Neil warned that resistance to density in wealthier suburbs is entrenching a segregated city and said the federal program is targeting 55,000 social and affordable homes this decade, with nearly 2,000 underway in the west.