Thursday, 20 February 2025

 Tom McINTOSH (Eastern Victoria) (10:02): Last week I had the pleasure of visiting Mornington Special Developmental School, and I was joined by Labor’s federal candidate on the peninsula Sarah Race. We had a truly great time meeting beautiful kids and the incredible staff. We were also able to see the progress on the works, the multimillion-dollar investment this government is making. It will deliver four new classrooms, a first-aid room, a library, a community hub and much, much more. After hearing stories about how on rainy days the staff would have to look for buckets or even umbrellas in the classrooms, this investment is just so meaningful, and I am so glad it is there for the school. I am proud that the government at the last election prioritised special schools with the investment that we are making right across Victoria so that our kids, our teachers and indeed our families can all benefit. I want to thank principal David Newport for taking us around. I had the pleasure of meeting two Lukases, incredible kids, but I got to meet kids and staff all across the team, and I just want to give a shout-out to Karen, Mel, Michael, Gen, Steff, Louise, Gale, Maddy, Liz, Maddy, Belinda, Bernadette, Katie, Kirby, Jayden and Tessa. Thanks for all you do, and I am sure all of the families there are very appreciative.