Thursday, 6 February 2025

Ministers statements: school saving bonus

Ben CARROLL (Niddrie – Minister for Education, Minister for WorkSafe and the TAC) (14:17): A few weeks ago I met another Ben. I doorknocked Ben and his mother Emily when I was out with our candidate for Werribee John Lister – or, to the household in Werribee, Mr Lister, as he is known. Emily told me how the school saving bonus has helped change her trajectory, how she has been able to support a local small business, Rushfords, down in downtown Werribee with the school uniform, how it has helped with the textbooks and how it has really helped them and how it has also shown that the Labor Party have empathy and that we have their backs during a cost-of-living crisis. We are not like what Mr McCracken said on the podcast: what do you cut, how much do you cut, what can you live without. With teachers like John Lister and like other teachers in this Parliament – the member for Bellarine, the member for Monbulk, the member for Wendouree, the Leader of the House, the member for Greenvale – we value teachers on this side of the chamber. We value building the Education State.

Also, I am very proud to be the member for Niddrie and to have as one of my constituents the Liberal candidate for Werribee. He is not only a constituent, he is a neighbour, and I also hope he believes in tackling transport emissions, because I am happy to carpool with him on Saturday morning. On that 40-minute drive I can tell the Liberal candidate that we have built not one, not two, not three, not four, not five, not six; we have built seven brand new schools in Werribee. And, guess what, I can also take him past every school, because –

Danny O’Brien: On a point of order, Speaker, I believe that the Deputy Premier is debating his statement, because the government did not care for 18 years where the member for Werribee lived before.

The SPEAKER: There is no point of order.

Ben CARROLL: I love my neighbours and I love my constituents, even Liberal candidates. We can go on that car ride. As every good real estate agent knows, when you are buying property you look for good public schools. You have got great property value when you have got good public schools. And, guess what, $2.3 million has been claimed by constituents in Werribee for the school saving bonus. They cut, we deliver.