Book 8 - Parliament of Victoria

BUDGET PAPERS 2011–12
Tuesday, 31 May 2011 COUNCIL 1569
plebiscite by the previous government. A plebiscite was
promised by former Premier Steve Bracks but never
delivered. We will be delivering on that in this term of
government. I know, having spoken to Jeanette Powell,
the Minister for Local Government, that things have
already started to move on that issue. The Sunbury
community will be very grateful that we are true to our
word. It might restore some faith in government at this
point.
Commuters will benefit from a $403 million boost for
public transport and plans to provide regional rail links.
This commitment has been outlined in government
media releases today. From a rural perspective,
specifically for Northern Victoria Region getting heavy
vehicles off the roads is very important. Along the
Calder Highway, from Melbourne right up to Mildura,
and also along the Hume Highway there is very heavy
traffic. It will be a great boon if we can actually get a
reduction in the number of heavy vehicles.
We will also receive $160 million over four years in
Macedon Ranges to upgrade country roads and bridges,
reversing years of neglect by the former Labor
government, with 40 rural councils each eligible for
$1 million each year under the Local Government
Infrastructure Fund. I am very proud of all of this. We
have delivered on all of those commitments we made
during the election. We will be working towards some
further announcements in this term of government, but
we are very committed to providing what we said we
would provide.
One of the issues I spoke about many times in this
chamber while in opposition was the Wallan-Kilmore
bypass, and I am very proud to say that we have
allocated $3.4 million to commence a planning study
for this project. The project is complex and the area is a
growing one which suffered from a lack of planning
under the previous government. It is work that needs to
be done. Those communities have an expectation that
we will deliver, and we will honour that. I have been
pushing for this bypass for a very long time, and it
gives me great satisfaction to know that we will be
working towards that in a very constructive way.
After all the obfuscation of the previous government,
particularly the previous member for Seymour, Ben
Hardman, the community was confused and did not
understand what had been committed to because there
were so many proposals and initiatives put up by the
previous government. After getting a commitment for a
bypass in 2005, the community ended up with a link
road that took all the heavy traffic right past the school
precincts and emergency services precincts, placing
everybody in jeopardy. Very clearly that was not
appreciated, and people voted in droves for the
coalition, delivering the new member for Seymour,
Cindy McLeish, to the lower house.
We are very proud also to announce for that area the
24-hour ambulance station at Wallan and $24.5 million
for an expansion of the Northern Hospital’s emergency
department. Many people in the Seymour electorate
travel to the northern region for assistance and go
through that emergency department, so it is very
important that the project be delivered. That hospital
has an enormous workload. The staff there do a
fantastic job, but they have been neglected for a long
time and need every bit of our support.
There is also $7 million for stage 2 of the Seymour
P–12 college. We need to acknowledge that Wallan
is a rapidly growing area and needs a professionally
staffed ambulance station. All these provisions will
certainly facilitate medical assistance. Educational
facilities there also need to be considered. There was
a commitment to the Wallan Secondary College, and
that will be delivered in the first term of this
government.
It is important to note that a lot of these communities
are commuting towns. The $403 million boost for
public transport and plans to boost regional rail links
are very important to those commuting populations.
Many of these towns have become dormitory suburbs,
which is fine, but planning needs to be put into
providing adequate infrastructure in terms of roads and
rail transport, which was much neglected by the
previous government.
The Mitchell Shire Council will also share in
$160 million over four years to upgrade country roads
and bridges, as will many other councils. Forty rural
councils will be eligible for that $1 million from the
Local Government Infrastructure Fund each year to
help ease the funding burden. As we saw during the
flood crisis, many of these small rural shires are
extraordinarily cash-strapped and need every bit of help
they can get, particularly as they have repaired many of
these roads up to three times.
I will finish shortly. As I said, I am very pleased to see
this amount of development going on in these two
areas. I am very keen to see the works going on across
the northern region. This area has been affected very
badly by a whole range of things, including drought,
bushfire and three flood incidents now, so it needs our
support. We are out there working with those
communities that are recovering. Today we have seen
the announcement of the bushfire recovery task force. It
is very much on-the-ground work, commitment to the