'Two generations of planning failure': Life on Melbourne's booming fringe

Some of Kiritika Deo's earliest experiences of life in Australia involved long walks if she wanted to catch a bus into the city.

After migrating from India in 2020, she and her husband decided to live in Tarneit, an outer suburb in the City of Wyndham, about 22 kilometres from Melbourne's CBD.

They bought their first home in Tarneit last year, but Ms Deo said the area's infrastructure has not kept pace with population growth.

"It's a family-oriented area, and it's developing rapidly,"

she said.

"[Six years ago], I had to drive about 15 minutes to get to the nearest shopping centre.

"Now there's a shopping centre that's only a five-minute walk away."

Ms Deo said since their home was in a newer estate, access to public transport was difficult.

Her experience is not unique, according to a Victoria Auditor-General's Office report published in June this year, which said there was a lack of access to frequent and reliable public transport options in many of Melbourne's outer suburbs, including in the Casey, Hume, Melton, Whittlesea and Wyndham council areas.

Ms Deo said she couldn't agree more, adding it could also take up to 1.5 hours to drive to the city during peak hour.

City of Wyndham is one of Australia's fastest-growing urban regions.

Its population grew from about 162,000 in 2011 and 292,000 in 2021, while total dwelling numbers increased nearly 70 per cent in the same period, census data shows.

The Wyndam City Council projects the population will grow to 480,000 in 20 years.

'Two generations of planning failure'

University of Melbourne expert in urban development Max Holleran said "at least one, and perhaps two generations of failure" in planning was impacting communities in Melbourne's outer west.

"What that failure looks like is that Melbourne is consistently built outward, releasing new land and building quite shabbily constructed homes," he said.

"And what that means is that you get a city with a lot more traffic, a lot more dispersed neighbourhoods that are not connected."

This made it harder for residents to seek employment elsewhere in the city, he said.

According to Wyndham City Council, most residents must leave the municipality to find work and the majority spend more than five hours commuting per week.

"Commuting time is money. People are left with less money in their pockets because they're spending more time commuting,"

Dr Holleran said.

However, he said there had been some positive changes, including a more robust plan from the Victorian government to provide train services and new hospitals in Melbourne's west.

Planning Victoria has been approached for comment.

A new station, West Tarneit, officially commenced operations at the weekend on the regional rail route linking Geelong, Victoria's second-largest city, with Melbourne.

Dr Holleran said the expansion of the V/Line was "one of the best possible solutions at this moment" for connecting outer suburbs to public transport.

"But it needs to be accompanied by changes in the zoning for those areas, which emphasise … more clustered and dense housing by the stations where people can walk and go about their daily lives," he said.

For Ms Deo, the new station will cut her travel time to the nearest rail link in half from 13 minutes to about six minutes by car.

Ms Deo hopes to see more money invested in local infrastructure to keep up with residents' needs.

Wyndham mayor Mia Shaw said ensuring infrastructure kept pace with the needs of the growing population was "one of the most significant challenges we face".

"Importantly, this is not simply about responding to today's infrastructure pressures,"

Cr Shaw said.

"It is about planning and investing now for the Wyndham of the future.

"Governments at all levels need to work together to ensure infrastructure planning and delivery keeps pace with population growth and supports the liveability of our communities."

A Victorian government spokesperson said they were moving ahead with the Sunshine Superhub project, the first stage of the Melbourne Airport Rail.

"And we're delivering new bus services in the west to better connect these growing areas to both the regional and metro rail networks," they said.

'Trains could be cancelled at the last minute'

Narindeep Kaur, who lives in nearby Truganina, said when she bought her home in the suburb in 2013, after moving to Melbourne from Malaysia, the area was largely underdeveloped.

She needed to drive more than 10 minutes to catch a train at Williams Landing Station until the Tarneit Railway Station, much closer to her home, opened in June 2015.

However, the 43-year-old said challenges with public transport still exist today.

"Trains could be cancelled at the last minute [and switched to bus replacement], and you wouldn't know until you arrived at the station. Otherwise, the trains were very crowded."

With her daughter preparing to start high school, Ms Kaur said access to education was becoming more important.

She also said there was a need for more schools as more young families with children move into the area.

"Maybe better and more diverse educational centres for art and creativity for local youths," Ms Kaur said

"I want future planning to be more focused, so we don't face the same issues we did previously."

'They don't forget their roots'

City of Wyndham has the highest proportion of Indian-born residents in Victoria, and almost one in five have Indian heritage, according to the 2021 Census.

It's one reason Kiritika Deo's husband believed it would help her adapt to life in Australia.

"My husband thought it would be easier for me to fit into a place that felt a little familiar," she said.

Dr Holleran warned a lack of services, infrastructure and transport could also pose problems for migrants trying to establish a network of friends and support.

Despite the struggles, Ms Kaur said living in Truganina also helped her children to maintain connections to their roots even if it lay far from the city centre.

"If I would have been staying in any of the other suburbs, it would have been difficult for me to inculcate the Indian values in my children," she said.

"They don't speak my language, but they understand, they see the festivals and the festivities going around.

"So they don't forget the roots, they know where their mum and dad come from."