MARYBOROUGH community leaders remain confident of achieving a number of key priorities for the town ahead of this year's state election.
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Deputy Premier Peter Ryan and The Nationals' Ripon candidate Scott Turner met with a number of local groups to hear what the government could do to improve Maryborough.
Central Goldfields Shire Council mayor Barry Rinaldi said the shire hoped for a commitment of $8.4 million for upgrades at Maryborough and District Health Service and $2 million to support community alliance Go Goldfields.
He said there was also interest in increasing the number of train services from Ballarat to Maryborough, which was re-introduced two years ago.
"The situation we currently have is that there is a train from Maryborough to Ballarat early in the morning, which returns in the evening," Mr Rinaldi said.
"As much as we welcome the new train service, we find we would benefit from adding another service later in the morning to return in the afternoon.
"That way people don't have to spend the entire day in Ballarat."
Alterations to the boundaries of the Ripon electorate changed it from a safe Labor seat to a marginal seat, increasing Maryborough's role in the upcoming state election.
Mr Rinaldi said the shire's election priorities were "not greedy" and addressed the genuine needs of the local community.
"Maryborough is an old hospital, and over it's time we've seen refurbishment after refurbishment," he said.
"What we're after is a partial rebuild."
The Deputy Premier held meetings with Central Goldfields shire representatives, the Central Goldfield Business Group and Maryborough District Health Service.
Mr Ryan said he was open to investigating increased train services.
"The main issue is that these services are demand-driven, we need to be able to demonstrate use," he said.
"We may well get a working group established to investigate the issue."