Wednesday, 8 March 2023

Commonwealth Games

Melina BATH (Eastern Victoria) (12:13): (68) My question is to the Minister for Commonwealth Games Legacy. Minister, will the homes in the Commonwealth Games village in Morwell be equipped with kitchens and garages?

Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for Water, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Commonwealth Games Legacy, Minister for Equality) (12:13): I am delighted, Ms Bath, that you have asked that question today, because we are, as I indicated in my ministers statement, in the process of seeking expressions of interest from contractors and businesses who will be in a position to deliver those games and those villages and indeed community infrastructure for the regions, including Morwell, where those villages will be located.

As you would know, we have a Morwell village site that has been determined for English Street, and what we are in the process of doing is working through the work of the online community consultation process. The views of the Morwell community selected from these information sessions will be used to guide the English Street design process. We are going to continue to work alongside the community and also Latrobe City Council. I am really delighted to be part of a series of regional engagement forums, and that will enable us to continue to discuss the needs of communities across rural and regional Victoria, including in the Latrobe Valley, as we work through the challenges and opportunities for village accommodation development.

We have actually had a process whereby the development of design guidelines has been part of that work, and stakeholders, including, as I said, Latrobe city, the Committee for Gippsland, Regional Cities Victoria and others, were asked to share information about the survey. Design guidelines are now finalised, and they will inform that design process to support those quality outcomes for games village design across all four of those locations. What we will be doing is working through a master planning process to determine the configuration, the look and the feel of those villages and to make sure that Commonwealth Games athletes and officials have the accommodation that they need.

Ms Bath, I suspect I know where you might be going with this particular question. What I am going to assure you is that the Commonwealth Games village accommodation will be fit for purpose for athletes and for officials who will call those villages home for the duration of the games, and indeed those village accommodation set-ups will be in a range of configurations to meet the needs of athletes and of officials. It is really important to note that accessibility is a big part of that work. As Minister for Commonwealth Games Legacy, I am absolutely determined to make sure that accessibility is at the forefront of the design configurations and that design and construction stage.

So, Ms Bath, I welcome your ongoing interest in this matter and in the deliverable benefits that this will confer in amenities, in jobs, in infrastructure and in long-term improvement for all village locations.

Melina BATH (Eastern Victoria) (12:16): I thank the minister for her response. I did give her plenty of time to see if she would mention the words ‘kitchens’ or ‘garages’. I noticed that when the minister at the time came down, the council was very pleased to talk about valuable housing for local residents – post, as a legacy. So in your capacity as games legacy minister, what is the legacy for the Latrobe Valley if these buildings do not have kitchens or garages at the completion of the games?

Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for Water, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Commonwealth Games Legacy, Minister for Equality) (12:17): Ms Bath, it is a shame I only have a minute to go into the detail of your supplementary question. With anyone’s indulgence, I would be delighted to speak for many hours on this particular subject, because it represents enormous benefit for rural and regional communities. I want to just make it really clear: athletes are not going to be sleeping in garages if that is where you are going with this. Post games, we will be repurposing athletes accommodation to make sure that it can be used for a variety of different purposes. Unlike those opposite, who wanted to scrap the entire thing before we went to the polls last year, we are determined to invest in and deliver long-term accommodation opportunities for people with a variety of different needs and priorities to make sure, including through repurposing, that accommodation is fit for purpose post the games in a variety of different settings.

Melina BATH (Eastern Victoria) (12:18): I move:

That the minister’s answer be taken into consideration on the next day of meeting.

Motion agreed to.