TUESDAY, 6 JANUARY, 2026
YEAR IN REVIEW... STORIES OF THE YEAR Moorabool councillor Paul Tatchell. (Supplied)
Frustration boils Melton and Moorabool councils laid bare their frustrations with the state and federal governments in 2025, fighting for vital road upgrades and rallying against dumped rubbish. Ahead of the federal election in May, Melton council launched a campaign calling for upgrades to the Western Highway between Caroline Springs and Melton, and electrification of the Melton rail line. Three years earlier, council had made a similar plea. But despite thousands of new residents moving into the area in that time, no funding had been delivered.
Council said years of underinvestment has led to aged, rural standard, congested, and unsafe roads. The advocacy paid off, with the federal government committing $1 billion to upgrade the Western Highway between Melton and Caroline Springs. With the upgrade secured, council turned its attention to the electrification of the Melton line and the construction of new stations at Mt Atkinson, Thornhill Park and Calder Park. It’s advocacy around those projects was unsuccessful. In May, Moorabool council took aim at
the state government’s “cruel” Emergency Services and Volunteer Fund, which it said would impact farmers already facing hardship caused by drought. The fund passed parliament on 16 May – with some amendments aimed at helping farmers – as a replacement for the Fire Services Levy. Moorabool then turned its attention to the Environment Protection Authority in July after it was slapped with a clean-up notice, ordering it to remove about 1000 to 1250 dissolved acetylene cylinders on pallets in two trailers parked on the nature strip of 210 Lerderderg Park Road, Merrimu.
Council applied to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) for a stay on the order, but the request was denied. Council argued it should not be responsible for the clean-up – and associated costs which were estimated to be about $500,000 – because the illegal dumper of the toxic waste had been under EPA surveillance since at least last year and “the EPA had failed to take action“. Council has since lobbied the state government to change legalisation to prevent councils from shouldering clean-up costs for waste dumped on their land.
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