the campaign trail - 6 oct

I'm running in the upcoming state election in the upper house seat of Eastern Metropolitan. It's been another busy week on the campaign trail. This week includes updates on:
 
- Greens want the abolition of puppy farms
- Greens petition to abolish puppy farms, click here to sign
- Greens support the Animals Matter to Me rally
- Brewis Atkinson - Forest Hill gets great reception at Environment Forum for Greens policies on renewables and environment
- Maroondah Knox Greens phonebanking success
- Monash transport forum coming up on 8 Oct
-Save Money Save Solar community forum coming up - more info here
- The Pipe Track (Forest Hill and Ringwood), accelerating the construction of the Principal Bicycle Network
-World Farm Animals Day: Greens call for law reform
- Join us for the Eastern Metro Day of Action, more info here

Vote for The Greens, you can count on us to
End Duck Shooting
Ban Jumps Racing
Abolish Puppy Farms

You can keep up to date with campaign news on:

facebook - Samantha Dunn EasternMetropolitan
  or
twitter - @greens4eastmet 

to volunteer or donate

web - Samantha Dunn, Candidate for Eastern Metropolitan

rowville rail benefits many

New study shows Rowville Rail benefits will far outweigh its costs

The Eastern Transport Coalition has welcomed the findings of a new economic impact study, which shows that the proposed Rowville rail line would significantly increase local employment and economic growth.

The study had been commissioned by Knox Council to measure the costs and benefits the project could be expected to generate.

The Victorian Government’s Rowville Rail study, released in March this year found that building the rail line was feasible and that once built, it would be well-used with an estimated 68,000 passengers per day.

It will also provide an essential link to Monash University, which is growing year by year and whose students are in desperate need of improved public transport.

This new study supports those finding and in fact quantifies the growth that the Knox area can expect and the flow-on effects for the broader Victorian economy.”

The report, conducted by SGS Economics and Planning, found that the rail line would result in the creation of around 280 jobs in the south east of Melbourne by 2021, and allow for an additional 410 households to be created in Knox by the same year.

It found that a rail line would accelerate overall economic growth in the region and in the 50 year period from 2021, it would provide an estimated $5 billion in environmental and economic savings, which is well above the $2.89 billion cost of constructing the project.

In the southern parts of Knox, where 90 per cent of residents rely of cars to access employment, a rail line would help to reduce road congestion and the impact of increasing fuel price on household budgets.

Given that Knox was a developed area, the growth projections were positive.

The study shows that a rail line to Rowville would deliver a moderate economic stimulus to the region, which would flow-on to benefit the whole state.

But when you are talking about delivering crucial public infrastructure, the focus shouldn't just be about economic benefits. There are social and environmental benefits that must not be ignored. This report shows that Rowville rail can deliver them all.

monster petition underway

A blowy, blustery day greeted Mayors and members of the Eastern Transport Coalition for the launch of the monster petition on Tuesday.

The launch was held at Monash University, a great example of bad transport planning. The university sees 30,000 people a week go through it’s doors and yet there is no rail link to get there. Vast amounts of land around the university are taken up by car parking.

Me, signing as number 6 on the monster petition, by the time the monster petition left Monash we had 350 signatures for better public transport in the East.

Students readily took up the offer of signing the petition for better public transport to the east, particularly a rail line to Rowville which would link up with Monash Uni. Many students were lamenting the fact that they needed to drive their cars to uni because the public transport options weren’t there for them.

The State Government has never provided a reason why rail extensions to Rowville and Doncaster shouldn’t be built, the ETC is asking that proper public feasibility studies be conducted to assess the viability of delivering heavy rail services to these two areas.

The ETC is bitterly disappointed that the Victorian Transport Plan did not include any major initiatives to address the significant gaps in the provision of and planning for public transport in the region.

The seven members of the Eastern Transport Coalition representing 1.3 million Melburnians. We advocate for sustainable and integrated transport services to reduce the level of car dependency to secure the economic, social and environmental wellbeing of the Melbourne's east.

Governments have been promising major investment in public transport for the eastern region since 1969. Forty years on and our residents are still waiting.

We’re putting the Government on notice that it’s time to end the neglect.

The launch was a great start for the monster petition which will be touring the eastern municipalities for the next 6 months.