Golden Plains Shire Council welcomes an election commitment from the Liberal Party to extend the public bus network from Ballarat to Smythesdale, if the Coalition wins the State Election on 26 November.
The election commitment was announced by Member for Ripon Louise Staley and Victorian Opposition Leader Matthew Guy at The Well in Smythesdale on Wednesday 1 June, 2022.
In October 2021, the change to the Victorian electoral boundaries moved Linton, Scarsdale, Smythesdale, Haddon, Ross Creek and Napoleons into the electorate of Ripon at the next State Election on 26 November.
Following a busy Federal Election campaign in which the ALP committed $3.61 million to Golden Plains, this is the first commitment of funding for the Shire in the lead up to the State Election.
Council welcomes the election commitment to the public bus service in Smythesdale and will advocate for future extension along the Glenelg Highway to add Scarsdale and Linton to the network.
Council will continue to lobby State and Federal Governments for more public transport options in Golden Plains Shire including the re-instatement of the passenger rail service from Geelong to Ballarat and a more frequent public bus service in the south of the Shire including Inverleigh, Teesdale and Bannockburn to Geelong.