Thursday, 18 April 2024
Adjournment
Ringwood East train station
Ringwood East train station
Nick McGOWAN (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (17:40): (838) I think there is a problem with the clock, President.
Harriet Shing: Quality control, Mr McGowan.
Nick McGOWAN: I am glad we are talking about quality control, because some weeks ago in this place I rose to talk about a wee problem I had.
Nick McGOWAN: It was not my haircut, although that is a fair comment; I will take the interjection and accept it on this rare occasion. I did have a wee problem – and the President knows where I am going with this – in relation to a train station.
A member interjected.
Nick McGOWAN: I did lose my tie as well; that is also true. It was in relation to a train station in my electorate, in Ringwood: the East Ringwood train station. The problem is that the government of the day, which is you across there, have spent in the order of $700 million, and I do not mind it being spent in my electorate – that is great and I welcome that – but what I am afraid you have forgotten to include is a toilet at the East Ringwood train station.
Members interjecting.
Nick McGOWAN: That is the pun; that’s right. It is unfortunate that Ms Terpstra is not with us at the moment. I do not know where she has gone; she is probably on the highway back to Melbourne – that is fine. I am glad that she was able to support a petition by local traders. All jokes aside, for the traders this is an important issue. It is a pleasure on this rare occasion to have so many ministers present, so I can only encourage you to, around the cabinet table –
Harriet Shing: It is all for you, Mr McGowan.
Nick McGOWAN: Thank you very much. It is actually for the community of Ringwood and the communities of Mitcham and Nunawading and the others that we represent.
Bev McArthur: Do they have a member for Ringwood?
Nick McGOWAN: No, they don’t. But nonetheless it is important that at East Ringwood train station we have a toilet. It is important for the kids, it is important for the mums, it is important for the dads and it is important for the senior citizens. There are not toilets at the nearby shops. It is not appropriate –
Nick McGOWAN: It is not an overlook; I think it is intentional. I do understand there have been some discussions between the government and the council. I do believe that the sticking point is that nobody wants to clean the toilets once they have been put in place. I urge the minister for transport to help us overcome that little obstacle and, on behalf of the government of Victoria, to commit to the government cleaning it rather than the local council having to take on that responsibility. That is not unusual. Most such toilets are looked after by Public Transport Victoria. This is a demarcation.
I see no more fitting way to finish our stay here in Echuca and the day today than to put forward a little issue for local people, because it does matter to them – it is important. We have all been users of public transport. We want Victorian people to use public transport more and more. If we are going to be serious about that, if we want to encourage that, then we need to provide the facilities to ensure that when you go to the suburbs out in Ringwood all the way from the city you can get there and go to the toilet if you need to. That is important for young people, it is important for senior citizens, it is important for anyone who uses public transport. I implore the government to take the initiative so that we could have a toilet at the East Ringwood train station.