Time for Avalon to Shine

A little can go a long way at Victoria’s second airport Melbourne Airport’s rail connection is long overdue.

There is now bipartisan support for getting it built, with Stage One alone representing a $4.1 billion investment, and the full project closer to $12 billion. Yet a fraction of the cost of the full project could help unlock the potential of Victoria’s second airport, providing the road infrastructure needed to support thousands of jobs and millions of dollars in investment.

In the decades we’ve spent debating airport rail, Avalon Airport has quietly grown into a serious economic driver for Victoria. Flying from Avalon is stunningly easy and efficient.

But our second airport is no longer just a perk for those lucky enough to live in Geelong or the Wyndham corridor. More than 3.3 million Victorians live within an hour of Avalon. It operates 24 hours a day and sits alongside some of Victoria’s most important road, rail and port connections. And its economic contribution extends well beyond aviation.

Alongside Jetstar and major freight carriers, businesses including Petstock, Cotton On, Hanwha and Australia Post are creating jobs and investment in the precinct. Now the Planning Minister has signed the paperwork providing capacity for around 8,000 new jobs alongside the airport. In time, around 26,500 people could work in the precinct. Yet for all this potential, and at a time when NSW is opening a massive second airport, the gateway to Avalon remains a country road.

Beach Road is the critical connection between the Princes Freeway, the airport and the growing employment precinct. The infrastructure serving Avalon simply has not kept pace with the growth occurring around it.

Avalon’s importance also extends well beyond Geelong. It sits within the broader Wyndham–Geelong corridor, linking one of Victoria’s fastest-growing residential areas with major employment, freight and tourism opportunities.

Better connections would give communities in Wyndham and Melbourne’s west greater access to jobs and flights, attract further investment and strengthen the economic relationship between Geelong and Melbourne.

The Commonwealth has put $5 million towards planning this crucial link, and the City of Greater Geelong has done its best to maintain the existing road.

But this is no longer a planning exercise.

With the Victorian election in November, we are calling on all parties to make a clear commitment to provide Avalon with a proper gateway: a safe, efficient and fit-for-purpose connection from the Princes Freeway via Beach Road to the airport and employment precinct.

Better road access, however, is only part of the opportunity. Avalon also needs more passenger services. Jetstar already connects Avalon with destinations across Australia, and additional services would give millions of Victorians more choice while bringing more visitors and economic activity into the state.

Ultimately, an international airport and employment precinct of this scale should have its own passenger rail connection. But Victoria does not need to wait for rail to start unlocking more of Avalon’s potential today.

Victoria needs a serious second international airport. Avalon is already here, already growing and already attracting jobs and investment.

Melbourne Airport needs its long-overdue rail connection. Avalon needs infrastructure that matches its growing role in Victoria’s economy.

For a fraction of the cost of the full Melbourne Airport Rail project, Victoria can make a meaningful start.

This is not an either/or proposition. A confident, optimistic Victoria should invest in both.

Ahead of November’s election, all parties should commit to giving Avalon the proper gateway its airport, employment precinct and growing communities deserve.

Kate Coghlan

Interim CEO, Committee for Geelong