By Kyra Gillespie
The populations of Casey and Cardinia have soared in the past year, again landing the burgeoning municipalities in the top 10 for population growth by LGA in Victoria.Rounding out the top five is Cardinia, with its population in the past 12 months rising by 4.6 per cent while Casey closely followed at 4.2 per cent.
Liberal Gembrook MP Brad Battin has urged the Andrews Government to speed up local infrastructure upgrades to ease the growing pains.
“This growth has not been unexpected, for many years we have heard and known we were targeted as a growth area of the state,” Mr Battin said.
“Victorian Labor has been in government for 16 of the last 20 years, and they have failed to plan for improved rail, better roads and a genuine plan to decentralise. Daniel Andrews is the reason our standard of living is declining.
“Many residents have spoken to me about the time it takes to get from the city to Pakenham after work, imagine how bad it is going to get over the coming years.”
From 2017-2018, Cardinia’s population climbed to 107,120, while Casey’s reached 340,419, according to the latest ABS figures.
Almost 3000 of that growth was attributed to internal migration in Cardinia, and roughly 6000 for Casey.
Just over 540 new residents migrated from overseas in Cardinia, and just over 3860 in Casey.
Bass Labor MP Jordan Crugnale has hit back at Mr Battins’ claims, citing a number of infrastructure projects in the region.
“Across the state the Andrews Labor Government has been delivering major upgrades to education facilities, new schools, roads and public transport,” she said.
“We are about delivering and getting on with it.
The election result last November made it very clear that people want this work and investment to continue. We’ve already removed 29 level crossings statewide and we’re going to remove even more, making places like Cranbourne and Pakenham completely level crossing free.
“In Pakenham alone Labor has committed to removing four level crossings, building a new railway super station, additional car parking at stations, duplicating Healesville-Kooweerup Road and widening the Monash. If Federal Labor is elected we will fix Racecourse Road from the Princes Highway to the Freeway.”
