Wednesday, 13 November 2024

Suburban Rail Loop

John PESUTTO (Hawthorn – Leader of the Opposition) (14:08): My question is to the Premier. The Labor member for Bass tabled a petition signed by residents outraged at:

… the delay of the promised funding of $5.3M to San Remo Primary School for critical infrastructure improvements.

How will kids at San Remo Primary School in the electorate of Bass benefit from Suburban Rail Loop East?

Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:09): I want to thank our outstanding, hardworking member for Bass for being a strong voice, a powerful voice, a passionate voice, a committed voice for her local community.

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: The member for South-West Coast is warned.

Jacinta ALLAN: The reason why the member for Bass can bring a petition to this place for this project is because Labor governments have committed to it. The only reason we are talking about a $5.3 million commitment to the San Remo Primary School is because the member for Bass secured this commitment, and the planning on this project is well underway. Of course this is just one of the 2200 schools that have been built or upgraded by Labor governments, nearly $17 billion –

John Pesutto: On a point of order, Speaker, on relevance, the question was about San Remo Primary School specifically. Can I ask that you draw the Premier back to the delayed funding commitment to San Remo.

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Sunbury is warned. The Premier was being relevant to the question.

Jacinta ALLAN: I will repeat that because I know the Leader of the Opposition gets a little shouty and does not do a lot of listening. I will repeat what I said at the outset of my answer. The only reason we are talking about the $5.3 million commitment to San Remo Primary School is because of the hard work of the member for Bass, and the planning is underway for this vitally important school upgrade. Of course that is not the only school. Fourteen new schools opened across the state this year, and one of them was in the member for Bass’s community at Clyde North – a great school, another one of our 14 new schools that have opened up.

But of course those of us with longer memories will remember a different time. Let us go back to 2016, a year when no schools were opened because no schools had been funded in the pipeline by the previous Liberal government. No schools were opened. We are building and investing in 2200 schools like San Remo Primary School, like the schools in Clyde North, like schools right across the state. That is part of that $16.9 billion of investment that we are making in school buildings that is not just giving our kids and our teachers great school facilities to learn in; it is supporting 26,000 jobs – 26,000 ‍workers who are getting the benefit of this Labor government’s investment in education. And that includes the great community at San Remo.

John PESUTTO (Hawthorn – Leader of the Opposition) (14:13): The Labor member for Thomastown said in Parliament that in Melbourne’s outer suburbs:

… the infrastructure is not there and in fact even if it was funded today, it would take years and years and years to build in order to provide the necessary services for people coming in.

How will the Victorians who live in the electorate of Thomastown benefit from Suburban Rail Loop East?

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: The member for Nepean is warned.

Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:13): I will say I was recently pleased to join the member for Thomastown at a brand new school in her electorate, Edgars Creek Primary School, with the Minister for Planning. And guess what we were announcing. We were making an announcement about not only how we were building more homes but how we were reforming the infrastructure contributions regime to support infrastructure for these communities. I was delighted to see our hardworking, committed, passionate member for Thomastown at that local school.

In anticipation I will say this to the Leader of the Opposition: every young Victorian who wants to study at Monash University will benefit from the Suburban Rail Loop because they will be able to catch the train there. You cannot do that now. Every single young Victorian who wants to study the course of their dreams for the job they want will be able to catch a train thanks to the delivery of the Suburban Rail Loop East.

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Member for Bentleigh, you are warned.