Tuesday, 1 April 2025

Polwarth electorate projects

Richard RIORDAN (Polwarth) (12:59): I rise to put on the record today for the house the unfulfilled expectations of many of the communities in Polwarth with the upcoming budget, and I refer specifically to two projects.

The first one is the Colac West Primary School, which was promised two years ago $10.5 million for a much-needed upgrade. Colac West Primary School is one of the oldest physical structures in education in the Polwarth electorate. It is in much need of renovation and an update. In fact the last renovation of any substance that they had was back in the early 1980s. This school is in desperate need. They were devastated last year when the government just chopped them without notice; in fact they were not even notified by the department that they had been chopped from the list. We really look forward to the government restoring some faith and credibility in its education department by restoring that funding to the Colac West Primary School this year.

It is interesting that we have the Minister for Health in the chamber this afternoon, and I wonder whether the people of Torquay can look forward to seeing that big parcel of land at the entrance to Torquay actually being turned into the health centre that has been promised over two elections, 2018 and 2022. Each time it has been promised to the people of Torquay that they would have a health centre and a hospital campus from Barwon Health. It still has not been delivered, and in fact the signs are still there and now overgrown. We look forward to the minister delivering on her promise.