Wednesday, 20 March 2024

School holiday activities

Lauren KATHAGE (Yan Yean) (16:47): I rise to grieve for the families of Victoria who, should the Liberal–National parties get back into power, will find themselves facing a mountain of cost-of-living pressures during the school holidays. The school holidays are a time when families should be together, should enjoy time and experience wellbeing. That is important, and that is why our government has invested in making sure that families have the support they need during what is a special and precious time for families. Those opposite have said that they do not really believe that this is a topic worthy of grievance, but as a mum let me assure you that it is. Perhaps many of those opposite will not even notice that it is the school holidays, but for us on our side many of us have caring responsibilities alongside our role in this place and in our communities, and we certainly are very aware of the school holidays approaching. We are also aware of the cost-of-living pressures that families are facing, and the member for Gippsland East said that this was not a worthy topic, but I have got a list of activities that are free or cheap, and I would be happy to share them with the constituents of his electorate, because I can guarantee that they are looking for cheap and free activities in these holidays.

Something that I am looking forward to these coming school holidays is at the Yan Yean Reservoir, where Parks Victoria will be running some of their Junior Ranger programs. I have visited before with Ranger Sharyn at the Minibeast Discovery activity at Yan Yean Reservoir, and it was very well attended by local families. This is a chance for families who maybe live on smaller blocks who do not have a rambling garden or bush to get out and experience nature, and in this program you are able to use a net and fish out the mini beasts that live there in the waterways around Yan Yean Reservoir. These coming school holidays I am looking forward to going there with my family. We have just completed upgrades to the Yan Yean Reservoir which make it even more family friendly and an even greater attraction for families. We have got upgraded barbecue facilities, playground surfaces, picnic seating, cold bins and the like, and it is a real drawcard in my community. I think on Father’s Day they said they were over 500 people there at Yan Yean Reservoir enjoying the open space, and it is really important that we have that open space to enjoy. But I do grieve that open space like that is potentially on the list for those opposite. Maybe that is where they will put the nuclear waste; I do not know – hopefully not. Hopefully they will never have the chance to put that in our beautiful Yan Yean Reservoir.

Another Junior Rangers program that is running is wildlife detectives, and that is a bit further down at the Morang wetlands, a part of Plenty Gorge parklands. That activity there is going to benefit a great deal in coming years from the Plenty trail upgrade. The member for Mill Park and I were really happy to turn the sod for that upgrade, and that upgrade is going to have the Plenty trail going all the way from Mernda down to Bundoora, so I am sure the Minister for Development Victoria at the table will be glad to hear that if he so wants he can walk all the way and visit us up in Mernda. That is going to be crossing over the Plenty River. There will be five new lookouts and two new bridges. This is a completely free activity for families, and the trail will be all access, so that will mean mums with prams can get out there, wheelchairs can use it and the whole community can get out and enjoy nature.

You could even take that path all the way down to Yarrambat lake, and Yarrambat lake is a lovely asset we have in our community. It would be great for kids of my area to get out there with their new fishing kits that have been delivered with a $1.5 million investment from our government, giving primary school kids the chance to learn how to fish. We have delivered over 90,000 of the kits, with a fishing rod and the equipment that you need. Yarrambat lake is constantly being stocked by us with fish that are fun to catch. Alan Staton, the president of the Northern Suburbs Fly Fishing Club, I am sure will be there having a go. They recently ran a ‘Come and try fly fishing’ day for the community, which I attended with my family, and it was great fun. My three-year-old managed to catch something in her dad’s pocket – I do not know how. But it is a great activity for families to do, a way for families to be together without having to spend lots of money. Yarrambat lake – we do not want to talk too much about that in front of those opposite, because it is another beautiful big open space that could potentially be on the nuclear waste dump list, so I would grieve for the families in my area if the Liberals were in power and brought back –

A member interjected.

Lauren KATHAGE: Maybe that is where. As well as getting out into nature, it is good to get out and have a run. The Doreen soccer club, which is run out of the facilities that our government invested in, is a great place to have a go at soccer. That is certainly what my daughter did last school holidays with the DOC Football Academy with David O’Connor. He is an absolute legend. What makes this academy so special is that it is for all abilities. I was so happy about my daughter learning to play soccer alongside children with Down syndrome and children with autism and other conditions. I just thought it was the best of our community. So that is another great activity for families in our area.

Something that we know that families in our area like to do is to visit playgrounds. We have got a destination playground in Wallan that was constructed in partnership between state and council – and Bendigo Bank, I think, also put in a bit. That playground has transformed Wallan. I promise you that these school holidays it will be packed every day. There will be family barbecues, there will be birthday parties and there will be people absolutely swarming all over that place. I grieve because our commitment and our investment into the future destination playground at Doreen, with a splash park and other facilities, would be at risk under a Liberal government. As we have heard, they do not seem to understand the importance of families having free and enjoyable activities to do together. We absolutely do, and that is why we invest in the things that families like.

Something that my family likes to do is go camping, and in fact we were camping in the member for Gippsland East’s electorate over New Year’s down at Banksia Bluff campground. He shared some concerns in his contribution around our investments in the campgrounds, but I was there. It was full every day of happy campers. We had lovely facilities while we were there and fantastic Parks Vic staff. The children were especially interested in the dead whale carcass on the beach. I am not sure if that counts as a family-friendly activity. It certainly was not a friendly activity for the whale, but that was the highlight for my daughter when I asked her what she liked best about camping.

This government has invested $106 million in our great outdoors program. We have upgraded campgrounds, we have opened 31 new campgrounds, and my husband is especially pleased about the 125 kilometres of upgraded four-wheel drive tracks. He was recently on some of those on a weekend away with the boys and they had a fabulous time. Hopefully he does not need something else for the four-wheel drive in the future.

We are heading up near Bright these coming holidays. We will be camping up near Bright, and it does concern me that the Buckland Valley around Bright and the mountains around there are a likely target for the nuclear waste dump for the Liberal Party. I can just see the Buckland River, and I can see the fish in the Buckland River –

Members interjecting.

Lauren KATHAGE: That sounds like a threat. I would love to see –

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Member for Ovens Valley, you are not in your place.

Lauren KATHAGE: I grieve for the fish of the Buckland River, who under a Liberal–Nationals government may have three eyes. That is something that none of us want to see and that we would be very sad about.

Today is World Oral Health Day, as we have heard, and I grieve because under the Liberal–National parties, schoolkids will be having to go to the dentist on their holidays because they will have no Smile Squad visiting them during the term. They would cut the Smile Squad, and kids would have to go to the dentist on their holidays – how depressing and how expensive. We know that they would do that, because they cut Free Fruit Friday, which is important for oral health. The Smile Squad has provided over 80,000 kids across 615 public schools with free dental check-ups.

We did hear from the member for Sandringham that they will stand up for vulnerable Victorians. The member for Sandringham said, ‘We will stand up for vulnerable Victorians,’ and then he said, ‘People always ask me what I would do if I was Treasurer.’ He said two things. The first thing he wants to do is help private schools. The second thing he wants to do is help investment property owners. That is who he sees as ‘vulnerable Victorians’. He is going to stand up for those vulnerable Victorians. Wow, how fantastic. He said that he respects the hard-earned dollars of Victorians because their tax dollars provide the services they rely on, like health and education. Well, what a betrayal then. What a betrayal that those opposite would have inflicted on people by cutting and closing and selling so many schools, TAFEs and hospitals. That is not respecting Victorian taxpayers, taking away the services that they rely on.

If they are so concerned about escalating costs, why are they sniffing around nuclear? That is what I want to know. For example, with the Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant in the UK, the estimated –

A member: What happened?

Lauren KATHAGE: I will tell you what happened. The estimated cost for that in 2022 blew out to 26 billion – that is pounds, I think. Then in 2023 it was £32.7 billion. Then in 2024 it was £46 billion. Those opposite think that they are the responsible economic managers, and yet they are sniffing around nuclear as though it is some sort of solution for our state. It would be bad news for our state, bad news for energy bills for Victorians, bad news for our environment and bad news for our budget, and the absolute risk that it would pose to our environment is unacceptable. So I grieve for the people of Victoria if those opposite were ever – God forbid – returned to power.