By XAVIER SMERDON
WYNDHAM residents have rejected political spin and demanded all levels of government invest more in infrastructure.
At a community forum entitled Let’s Talk About Growth held at the Werribee Cultural Centre last week, residents listened to a panel of experts discuss the best ways to manage population growth.
Wyndham Council’s Director of Advocacy, Bill Forrest, gave an overview of the municipalities latest growth figures which showed that 15 per cent of Melbourne’s growth is taking place in Wyndham.
This is up from five per cent on 2001 while in 2009 to 2010 Wyndham grew by 12,604 people, or 35 people per day.
Member of the Western Region Environment Centre, Harry Van Moorst, labelled the forum a waste of time.
“We are continually congratulated for having these discussions, but there is a significant number of people that are dismayed that these discussions don’t go anywhere,” Mr Van Moorst said.
Mr Van Moorst received applause from the audience when he told Wyndham Council they needed to represent residents more.
“At what point is the council willing to tell the State Government that we will not approve any more permits or land developments until the State Government guarantees the funding?” he said.
One of the experts, CEO of CPR Communications and a journalist for more than 20 years, Jayne Dullard, received the only round of applause for the panel when she suggested residents vote out local member Tim Pallas as a way of making change happen. “If you really want to get change then organise your community and vote out the local member and vote in a Liberal,” Ms Dullard said.
