Wednesday, 20 March 2024

School holiday activities

Alison MARCHANT (Bellarine) (17:47): I rise and I grieve today for what could be at risk if a Liberal government were indeed in government in relation to programs and support that are available to families around school holiday times, and I will bring this back to the topic at hand. School holidays are a really important time for families, but as a former primary school teacher I can also say school holidays are a very important time for teachers as well to have that break and recharge, although many of them do work throughout the school holidays as well. I remember I would always get sick in school holidays. You would stop and you would catch up and you would get sick, but then you would recharge for the next term. Also school holidays can be very important for grandparents. I am the first to admit that I have needed my parents and my in-laws to help with raising my own children, but they did love having them as well and having that special time with the grandkids, going out and doing activities together.

I do grieve that the Bellarine electorate would certainly be in a worse situation if we allowed the opposition to represent them. Nothing would happen. Absolutely nothing would happen, and programs that we support would be at risk. I would argue that the Bellarine is one of the best electorates across the state. Everyone thinks that of their own electorate, but with the uniqueness of our historic townships, the natural environment that we have, our wineries, our tourist attractions, it is an absolutely beautiful place to live, raise a family or retire. Many people have moved to the Bellarine electorate in the last little while. They have moved to the region and they often say to me, ‘I wish I had done it earlier.’

I was born and bred on the Bellarine. I grew up in what was the small rural country town of Leopold, where everyone knew everyone. My fondest memories of growing up – and I suppose they probably are school holiday memories – are of going to the beach and exploring rock pools. You would have fish and chips at Queenscliff and watch the pilot boats go out of the heads. You would go to skate parks or the park, where you would go for walks or bike rides with the family, and all of those were free activities. They did not cost families much. Some of the things I will talk to today are also free for families on the Bellarine, or if they indeed visit the Bellarine. I have a 13-year-old and an 11-year-old who love their screen time, so I am always looking for things that we can do as a family to be out and about and get them off their screens. The list that I go through today – I hope parents will have a look at it and it will encourage them to go out and about, get the kids off the screens and do some things across the Bellarine.

One thing I would grieve if an opposition were indeed in government and is at risk is the Bellarine distinctive area and landscape planning policy that has been placed on our region and the electorate. This was a community-led campaign, alongside the work of the former member Lisa Neville, to protect what is so dear about the Bellarine: to protect the green wedges, to protect our natural environment and to protect our unique townships from overdevelopment. I certainly would grieve if anyone other than a Labor member were to look at that and were to maybe repeal or remove that really important planning policy that ensures that the Bellarine stays as it is intended to and stays protected as a very unique area. That is what the community and residents of the Bellarine expect – that we protect our natural environment as well.

There are two wonderful women who have started a business in the Bellarine, Cayla and Heidi, and they call their business Seaforth. They are about highlighting the beautiful Bellarine. They have T-shirts, tote bags and prints. They use pictures of the Bellarine in their products. They have a wonderful bingo card called Bellarine bingo. You can pick that up in their web store. They are wonderful. You can go across the Bellarine, drive with Mum and Dad, and the kids can tick off where they have been on the different parts of the Bellarine. But I have my own game called Bellarine bingo as well in the car. My kids do not love it as much, but I can literally drive around the Bellarine and point to Labor investments, many of them advocated for and supported by Lisa Neville in the past. Whether it is surf lifesaving clubs, investment; schools – every school on the Bellarine has had an investment; CFA stations, investment; coastal walks, boardwalks, accessibility of our coast, investment; sporting facilities, skate parks, investment. We have had an incredible amount of investment across the Bellarine to support the lifestyle that families absolutely enjoy.

When we think about the Bellarine, we certainly think about beautiful beaches. We want people to come to our beaches and enjoy them, but we also want people to be safe. Every surf lifesaving club on the Bellarine has had an upgrade or redevelopment – Ocean Grove Surf Life Saving Club, Barwon Heads, has had a redevelopment and Point Lonsdale also has a new surf lifesaving clubhouse and is working towards a new clubhouse for what they call the back beach, to service that beach in Point Lonsdale. All of those investments are really important. I do grieve that we would not see that investment with an opposition in government.

With all the beautiful waterways that we do have and the coastline, fishing is very important and is very popular on the Bellarine. I cannot give away my secret fishing spots today, but I can absolutely give you lots of locations that you can try. I just cannot put X marks the spot on exactly where you would get fish. We have plenty of boaters as well on the Bellarine. Every boat ramp has had an upgrade or is about to get an upgrade on the Bellarine as well, and we are really proud of that investment to support that recreation activity. There are plenty of land-based opportunities as well for fishing. I see many kids and families along our piers – St Leonards pier, Portarlington pier and Point Lonsdale pier ‍– and at the Ocean Grove boat ramp. We see plenty of people in Barwon Heads for that land-based fishing. It is absolutely incredible to see kids now out and about with their free fishing rods that were provided by the state government to support our next generation of anglers. I am sure there are lots of kids catching fish.

I will give a shout-out to two boys in Ocean Grove, a primary school aged boy and a high school aged boy who create soft plastics that they sell online. They are called Get the Dogs Soft Plastics. I have used them. I have bought them. I caught a fish with one, so I know that they are a really good product. How great is it for two kids to be entrepreneurial and to do this – something that they love doing, and now they have got a little small business. I am sure people could look them up, but this is just one example of some of the things that you can do, pretty much for free, on the Bellarine. You can get out there, get your fishing rod and see if you can catch dinner.

We also have some pretty historic townships across the Bellarine, and Queenscliff is one of those. The Bellarine Railway is run by a really fantastic volunteer organisation that preserves steam trains and preserves rail carriages. They run services along Swan Bay. It is a fantastic way to see the Bellarine from a different angle. You can hop on board and take a 30-minute train ride or enjoy a longer experience along Swan Bay. You can do it in a couple of different ways. You can have a family experience, jumping on one of the steam rail experiences, or there is the Q train, which is a very luxurious food and beverage package, I suppose, where you sit in a carriage and experience some of the best and finest Bellarine produce. It is a great experience as well for tourists to come along to that. That is another tourist destination that we have invested in. I am really proud that they have received upgrades not only for their stations but also for the line along there to make sure that when on the Q ‍train people can be served their wine and their coffee without too many spills. It is a fantastic experience.

I just want to highlight this with school holidays and Easter coming up as well: the railway do run a kid-friendly day out with Thomas. They are also going to be running a Good Friday appeal. The railway are going to donate proceeds from the passenger fares to the Good Friday Appeal, which is absolutely fantastic. I note that money from the Good Friday Appeal this year is also going to regional hospitals, and Barwon Health in Geelong will be one of the recipients as well. I think it is fantastic that they are doing that.

We have other absolutely fantastic free things that families can go and do over the school holidays. We have got Portarlington ferries and Searoad Ferries. Portarlington ferries do specials over the school holidays. You can go for a ride on the ferry and go into Geelong or into Melbourne. Searoad Ferries have that Queenscliff to Sorrento trip, which is amazing to do. Hopefully you see dolphins on the way. Sometimes you can see that, and it is absolutely special. They also put on kids events on the ferries over the holidays.

There are plenty of skate parks and bike parks that you can use across the Bellarine. The St Leonards skate park has just had an upgrade, thanks to joint local government and state government funding. It is absolutely fantastic. Ethan, who is a local St Leonards resident down there, had been advocating for something for kids in that area, and a skate park was one of the things that he advocated for. I am sure I have got this right: St Leonards skate park, before the redevelopment, was given the title of the worst skate park in the world by an American skating magazine, which is not great. I will have to get onto them and let them know that it is no longer the worst skate park in the world. It is absolutely magnificent. Every time I drive past I see plenty of families and kids there, which is wonderful. The community have absolutely embraced that; they love it.

We also have lots of natural reserves and parks where families can go for walks. Recently I was at the Ocean Grove Nature Reserve meeting the friends group that look after that place. You can go for a walk there. They have now relaunched their QR code, so you can go along with your phone, scan the QR code as you are walking along and learn about the great Ocean Grove Nature Reserve. It is a wonderful place. I know some of the bush kinder groups go there as well. Certainly you learn a lot about the traditional owners and some of the Indigenous flora and fauna that are in that park.

There is plenty to do in terms of kids getting out and about. There are lots of sporting facilities that have had upgrades: tennis, netball, basketball, soccer pitches, cricket nets. They are all wonderful sports. The kids can just go along to their local sporting facilities and use them over the school holidays. I will recommend that maybe the kids could try pickleball –

A member interjected.

Alison MARCHANT: yes – these school holidays, an absolutely wonderful sport that has taken off on the Bellarine. The pickleball group in Drysdale are now using an old bowling green for their pickleball court. I encourage the kids to have a go at a new sport as well.

The Bellarine has had a lot of investment over the years, and I really grieve that a Liberal government, or a coalition government – in government – would not invest in the Bellarine as we have done. I will fight every day for continued and further investment, and I will fight for the families of the Bellarine to ensure that they have the lifestyle that they certainly deserve and enjoy at the moment.

Question agreed to.