Thursday, 6 March 2025

Ministers statements: Victoria’s Big Build

Gabrielle WILLIAMS (Dandenong – Minister for Transport Infrastructure, Minister for Public and Active Transport) (14:05): Happy birthday to the member for Bulleen, my shadow. I rise today to update the house on the enormous contribution that women are making to the Victorian Big Build program. We know the importance of ensuring that government investments create local jobs, training opportunities and new career pathways for those who might be looking to upskill, and we also know how important it is to pull every lever we have to ensure that women will share in the job creation and share in the opportunities that our projects create.

We have invested over $120 billion in transport infrastructure to keep our state moving, and we have also introduced the Building Equality Policy, which has ensured that we have delivered training and employment opportunities for women in the construction sector in particular. This policy mandates that we grow women’s representation in trade roles, in non-trade roles, in management roles and specialist roles and in apprenticeship roles as well. We know that women are too often overlooked for opportunities in male-dominated industries, and that is why we embed in every infrastructure project opportunities for women. For example, our Level Crossing Removal Project runs the women-in-transport mentoring program, the first of its kind in Australia, and our Sunbury Road upgrade is being delivered in partnership with Sheforce, Australia’s first female-led recruitment and labour hire social enterprise. We are also building the city-shaping Suburban Rail Loop and will have the world’s first all-women tunnel-boring machine crew as part of that.

And we are not stopping there. Each time we invest in a new project we are investing in more jobs and more opportunities for women. We have put gender equity at the heart of our Big Build program, and we have lived our values in doing that. When I look across the chamber and I see the dearth of women on opposition benches, I can see that the Liberal Party are living their values too.

Bridget Vallence: On a point of order, Speaker – on behalf of all Liberal women, I wish all women a happy International Women’s Day this weekend – ministers statements are not an opportunity to attack the opposition.

The SPEAKER: I ask you to resume your seat.