Luan Walker

The West Party is not aligned with Labor, the Coalition or any other party. We’re not left or right, we’re West. For too long the major parties have taken the west for granted.

We’ll release a preference card once all candidates are known, and it will be based on written commitments to the West and on each party’s track record.

I’d urge every voter to put The West Party first and then decide their own preferences once they’ve looked at each party’s record and policies.

Data centres should follow the same planning rules as everyone else. At the moment, a family can wait longer for a permit for a veranda than a data centre waits for approval.

No data centre should be approved unless it shows how it will be powered, how much water it will use and what its impact will be on neighbours and the environment.

We’d require a disclosed power supply that doesn’t strain the local grid or raise bills. We’ll also make operators pay a community benefit contribution, so the neighbourhoods that host them see an investment and don’t see their property values or local environment suffer.

The West Party will ensure investment in public transport infrastructure is not an afterthought when new communities are developed. That improved rail services are not continually pushed back for years like the Melton electrification. New rail stations and more frequent rail services introduced in high growth corridors.

We also want a grid-based bus service for the West. Have buses operating from 6am till midnight and with a frequency of every 10 minutes operating throughout the western suburbs.

Slow, gridlocked traffic means more pollution, and many people in the West drive because they have no alternative. We’ll fix this from both ends.

We’ll improve public transport so fewer people have to drive, and we’ll prioritise congestion relief on major roads such as the M80. We’ll also create more local jobs, because too many people travel to the city or other regions for work.

Homelessness has root causes such as family breakdown, mental health issues and rising rents, and we’ll back programs that tackle those causes with practical support.

We’ll also invest more in affordable housing in the West. New estates should have a real mix of housing types and block sizes, so families can afford to live in the communities they grew up in.

We’ve spent nine months listening to the West, and this hasn’t been among the issues residents raised with us. The West Party does not want any changes to current laws.

The West Party will put community safety first. We’ll fight for more police, a tougher approach to repeat offenders [add what that means, such as bail settings or sentencing] and a serious crackdown on retail and street crime.

We’ll also invest heavily in prevention, especially for young people, through sport, employment, training, apprenticeships, education and community participation. Keeping young people engaged is one of the most effective ways to stop them drifting into crime.