Greg Byrne organised a rally to bring attention to Wyndham’s sub-standard roads. Picture: XAVIER SMERDON
By XAVIER SMERDON
WYNDHAM residents took to the streets last week to demand better roads in the fastest growing municipality in Australia.
A protest organised by Greg Byrne, who has lived in the area for more than 30 years, was attended by more than 70 people on Sunday.
Mr Byrne, who originally started a Fix Ballan Rd Now campaign has since changed his tactics to include all of Wyndham’s roads.
“I started reading about the woes they were experiencing in Point Cook and I realised this is a problem the affects all of Wyndham,” Mr Byrne said.
“This is not about having a go at Wyndham Council, but we need to draw attention to the state of all the roads, most of which are Vic Road’s responsibility.”
Mayor Kim McAliney spoke at the rally and said that Wyndham was in need of urgent funding.
“Many of us in Wyndham do not want to see continued growth without proper infrastructure funding,” Cr McAliney said.
“We’re not asking for anything fancy, we’re asking for basic infrastructure.
“Ambulances are having difficulty attending incidents because the traffic is so bad and then once they get there they can’t get to a hospital on time.”
Member for the Western Metropolitan Region Andrew Elsbury, who was not at the rally, said blame for the state of Wyndham’s roads had to fall on Labor.
“After 11 years of under investment and poor planning by the Labor government we have been left with quite a job to do in improving road infrastructure across the board,” Mr Elsbury said.
“I only hope that Tim Pallas as the former Roads Minister will take his fair share of responsibility for the situation we are in today.”
