Investment in critical infrastructure is needed to keep up with greater Geelong’s booming population acccording to the regions peak lobby group.
The Regional Australia Insitute’s latest migration data lists Geelong as a the second top regional destination in the country and G21 CEO Giulia Baggio says it should be a clarion call to policy makers.
“We have been the fastest growing city and region since about 2013 actually,” Ms Baggio said.
“We’re getting a lot more young people moving to the region and that’s a fantastic trend and we want to keep that going, but what it means is that we really need to be investing very heavilly in key infrastructure, particularly transport.”
The G21 has been modelling the strains on regional infrastructure, housing and the environment and say it’s clear more investment is needed to alleviate the pressure.
“We’ve got the data to back up the need for that strong investment,” Ms Baggio said.
“We’ve done a study recently that projects out to 2041 showing that road based congestion gets very, very intense, so we need to be building right now a very viable public transport system for Geelong and the region.
“We know that people are moving to Geelong and the region and they’re not necessarily going back to Melbourne to study and other things like that, they’re really staying in the region.
“They really want to be able to access education, training, transport, all those good things need to be self contained in the region.”
Ms Baggio acknowledges that asking local, state and federal governments for more assistance at a time when they’re slashing budgets is unfortunate.
“It comes at a terrbible time because we absolutely need that investment now,” she said.
Image: Corangamite MP Libby Coker (from left), G21 CEO Giulia Baggio and Corio MP Richard Marles (Facebook/G21)