By LACHLAN MOORHEAD
THE Coalition has promised to install a public toilet at Hallam train station if it is re-elected at the end of the month.
Liberal candidate for Narre Warren North Amanda Stapledon was joined by Public Transport Minister Terry Mulder on Wednesday last week at the station to promise $265,000 for the installation of an Exeloo public toilet at the site.
It comes after the Opposition last month also promised to install public toilets at the station, following years of community campaigning.
“This is fantastic news for the Hallam community. There are no public toilets near to Hallam station and 2600 Metro passengers’ board trains on a typical weekday,” Ms Stapledon said of the Coalition announcement.
“The community has made continual representations to me that I have conveyed to Mr Mulder and the Coalition Government and it’s great that the community will now get what they have been calling for.
Ms Stapledon said the toilet would also include full disability access and a graffiti-resistant external surface.
“Metro will also have the ability to remotely control the opening hours of each toilet to ensure they operate from first to last train,” she said.
Local Labor MPs Luke Donnellan and Judith Graley had previously criticized the Coalition for not providing funding to upgrade Hallam station in the latest State Budget released earlier this year.
The former Labor Government had allocated funding for Hallam station to be upgraded to premium status – which includes public toilets being built at the site – in the 2010 State Budget.
But Mr Mulder said the Coalition’s installation of buildings for Protective Services Officers has resulted in water and sewerage being connected to stations that previously were not there.
“This makes it easier to provide public toilets at stations such as Hallam that, during the previous Labor Government, were never provided with such facilities,” Mr Mulder said.
