About 30 delegates from South East Victoria and New South Wales met in Shellharbour on 17 and 18 May 2018 at a meeting hosted by Shellharbour City Council.
The South East Australian Transport Strategy Inc (SEATS) aims to stimulate and facilitate investment in transport infrastructure in south eastern New South Wales, eastern Victoria and the ACT Region. Members of SEATS include local government, regional development organizations, government agencies, regional industry and academics. The SEATS region is in a triangle to the east of a line linking the NSW City of Wollongong to the north, the Victorian Shire of Baw Baw to the south and the ACT and Yass, Goulburn and Crookwell to the west.
The Mayor of Shellharbour, Cr Marianne Saliba in welcoming the opportunity to host the quarterly meeting of this prestigious organisation said, “SEATS promotes transport infrastructure projects that benefit the region as a whole and is aimed at creating jobs and making our community safer and even more liveable”.
A major part of the discussion was in regard to Election policies for the upcoming Victorian and NSW State Elections and the Federal Election. At every election SEATS advocates for projects that Councils recommend. A number of projects were discussed at the meeting and as part of this discussion the delegates from Eurobodalla, Cr Anthony Mayne and Mr Warren Sharpe OAM raised the urgency of connecting the South Batemans Bay Link Road intersection with the Princes Highway with SEATS giving an undertaking to advocate for the works to be done as a priority project.
Mayor Cr Liz Innes welcomed the support of SEATS.
“It’s great to have the backing of SEATS as a regional cross-border transport group to get the upgrade on the Princes Highway south of Batemans Bay and the connection to the South Batemans Bay Link Road finally delivered We welcome SEATS support to lobby the Australian and NSW Governments to get this project done” said Cr Innes.
SEATS Chairperson Clr Patricia White said “The funding for the Princes Highway and Glenella Road, South Batemans Bay intersection remains unresolved by State and Federal Governments. SEATS appreciates the importance of completing this major intersection as a matter of urgency and is calling on both Governments to make a strong commitment today to the Batemans Bay communities, freight users and tourists of the Princes Highway to deliver the vital funding for this major intersection upgrade immediately.”
SEATS will continue to advocate to Government for funding to upgrade the Princes Highway and other transport infrastructure in our region to provide transport to bring goods and services to our region as well as shipping our produce to the rest of Australia and the world.
