The Bendigo Showgrounds should get a new train platform to make up for the hit Bendigo has copped from the Commonwealth Games' cancellation, the opposition's David Southwick says.
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The shadow Commonwealth Games spokesperson was in Bendigo on Friday talking to those still reeling from the government's decision to cancel the Games.
"A train platform to get people to the showgrounds for events would be a great legacy," he said.
"That's one of the things that should be on the agenda as part of what's being delivered."
The idea of building a train platform for the Games has been floating since last year, when the City of Greater Bendigo put it on a wish list of builds needed before athletes arrived for the 12 day sporting spectacular.
The council is understood to have prioritiesed lobbying for other projects given the tight timelines for the Games, and train platforms were not as central to community campaigns as they became in Ballarat.
The government poured cold water on Games train platforms earlier this year.
"It's simply a question of time," then-Games delivery minister Jacinta Allan told a parliamentary budget committee in June.
At the time, the government had 1008 days to Ballarat and Bendigo Games-ready and wanted to prioritise some builds over others.
The cancellation should change its calculations, Mr Southwick said.
One option could be to build the permanent train platform with money the government was saving by not building a temporary velodrome for the Games.
"It's a great idea," Mr Southwick said when it was suggested at Friday's press conference.
His focus, though, was more on the principal of building a platform, and on discussions about other things Bendigo should get in the wake of the Games' cancellation.
"The question is what should be a priority now, and that platform should certainly be one," Mr Southwick said.
The showgrounds is already expected to get a building promised before the Games cancellation.
That structure would have housed table tennis, had the Games gone ahead.
A government spokesperson said $550 million had been set aside for venues including the showgrounds' exhibition shed, Bendigo Bowls Club greens and a clubhouse, and new courts at Red Energy Arena.
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Tom O'Callaghan
I grew up in Bendigo and I want to tell your stories.
I grew up in Bendigo and I want to tell your stories.
