Tracking progress on 2022 election commitments

FROM a new headspace centre to much-needed sporting infrastructure upgrades, incumbent Corangamite Labor MP Libby Coker made 10 promises affecting residents in and around the Surf Coast ahead of the 2022 federal election.

With the community set to return to the polls on May 3, the Surf Coast Times takes a look at the progress made on each of these.

The biggest commitment of Ms Coker’s 2022 campaign was $125 million in funding to deliver stage two of the Barwon Heads Road upgrade.

This funding was increased last month by a further $68.2 million, after the state government, which was also to contribute $125 million to the project, announced a revised scope of works.

With the additional funding in place, works on the full project are now expected to begin in late 2025, with completion estimated in 2028.

In March last year, the federal government’s $1.9 million pledge to help protect the Karaaf Wetlands in Torquay North from the impacts of stormwater was reaffirmed, with a further $5 million committed just last month to the saltmarsh, which has been affected by excessive freshwater flows caused by stormwater draining from nearby housing developments.

A $500,000 promise to install a community battery in Torquay is progressing, with delivery partner The Yarra Energy Foundation announced earlier this week, while an architect was last month appointed for the redevelopment of the changerooms and public toilets at Spring Creek Recreation Reserve, to which Ms Coker pledged $700,000.

In Armstrong Creek, a federally funded headspace centre opened in December last year, and works are this month ramping up on the Armstrong Creek Sports Stadium, to which the Albanese Labor government will contribute $6 million.

Meanwhile, a $5.445 million grant was awarded to RSL Victoria in February last year to establish a new Veterans’ and Families’ Hub in Geelong, with major satellite sites intended for Torquay and Queenscliff to support the more than 6,600 current and former ADF personnel living across the region.

Equipment upgrades for schools were also a strong focus for Ms Coker in the lead-up to the 2022 poll, with Surf Coast Secondary College ($40,000), Inverleigh Primary School ($170,000) and Grovedale College ($50,000) among the recipients.

The funding commitments for SCSC and Inverleigh Primary School had been delivered by April last year, while works on an outdoor basketball court at Grovedale College began last week.