VTIC stokes Avalon rail for State Budget

A HUGE spend of £50 million towards a railway station for Avalon Airport is among the Victorian Tourism Industry Council’s (VTIC) key recommendations for next month’s 2022-23 State Budget. VTIC says its budget submission calls for investments to drive and sustain growth in Victoria’s visitor economy.

These include co-funding the Avalon Airport Rail Station with a £150 million investment equally shared between Avalon Airport, the federal government, and the Victorian government. VTIC’s recommendation stated Avalon “has an opportunity to establish its role as Victoria and Melbourne’s legitimate secondary international airport and one of Australia’s best commercial and logistics hubs, if we adopt a four-stage development of the airport to fully integrate with air, road, rail and sea”. “While NSW is still building their second international airport, Victoria already has that infrastructure in place, and we need to maximise our position in this regard.”

Avalon Airport has an expansive car park, but no direct link from the nearby railway line at Lara.

Photo: FACEBOOK/AVALON AIRPORT

The submission stated the Avalon station should built on the railway line between Little River and Lara, with a dedicated road for shuttle buses to the airport that would benefit not only the large number of visitors coming to the Victoria 2026 Commonwealth Games but the next and future instalments of the Australian International Airshow, as well as delegates to the Geelong Convention Centre when it opens in late 2026. “This new station has in-principle support from the federal government, who has indicated they would match a £50 million investment from Avalon Airport, but their support will require £50 million from the Victorian government as well.” VTIC chief executive officer Felicia Mariani said some of its other submissions were about “aggressively pursuing direct international air services back to Victoria, while also promoting our regional airports to improve interstate dispersal”.

Avalon Airport chief executive officer Tony Brun has been talking up the benefits of some kind of public transport link from the existing railway line to Avalon for months, including at this year’s airshow during a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister and Corio federal member Richard Marles. In a post on LinkedIn, Mr Brun wrote Avalon’s rail proposal could and should be built and operational for the Victoria 2026 Games. “We’re creating Australia’s premier fully integrated multimodal logistics economic and employment precinct.”

Elsewhere in its submission, VTIC recommended 49-year leases on Crown land to “encourage investment in the high-quality tourism infrastructure and experiences that are being sought by today’s consumers”, which Ms Mariani said “would put Victoria on par with other states”.

The state government should also work with industry to develop a Commonwealth Games Visitor Servicing Strategy, including a plan for attracting and training the esimated 15,000 volunteers that will be needed “to ensure Victoria not just meets but exceeds the expectations of visitors to the state”.