Thursday, 3 April 2025

Budget 2025–26

Wendy LOVELL (Northern Victoria) (18:15): (1589) My adjournment is for the Treasurer, and the action that I seek is for the Treasurer to provide funding in the upcoming 2025–26 state budget for numerous projects that are vitally important to communities in northern Victoria. This is one of the last sitting weeks before the 2025–26 state budget is handed down, and I take this opportunity to remind the Treasurer about a few of the critical projects that need to be delivered in my electorate of Northern Victoria, which also happens to be the Treasurer’s electorate. Our constituents are desperate to see these projects funded.

First, regional roads in Northern Victoria are in a disgraceful condition. The Treasurer must increase funding for general maintenance and repairs for regional roads. We also need a firm commitment from the Victorian government that funds will be made available for by-passes in Shepparton, Rutherglen and Kilmore. Residents in the growth suburbs of Melbourne’s north are also calling out for crucial investment, and in particular the Treasurer must urgently allocate the state’s share of funding for the duplication of Donnybrook Road.

Access to comprehensive health services is one of the greatest concerns of my constituents, and the Treasurer must recognise this priority by providing full funding for the completion of the Goulburn Valley Health redevelopment and additional funds to enable a new hospital to be built on a greenfields site in Wodonga. The Minister for Health has neglected her own constituents in the district of Macedon and failed to deliver any funding for the Daylesford hospital redevelopment. The Treasurer must step up and make available at least a $75 million commitment for this critical investment.

After roads and health, school safety is one of the biggest priorities for residents in Northern Victoria. We urgently need money for upgrades to make drop-off and pick-up points safer for parents and kids at Epsom Primary School in Bendigo, Grahamvale Primary School in Shepparton and Kialla West Primary School, which also needs a safety upgrade to its pedestrian crossing. Banmira Specialist School in Shepparton has half opened, but it is stuck with empty buildings that students cannot use because the Labor government has not given them enough money. The Treasurer must plug this gap with sufficient funding and also invest in the future of students at risk of homelessness by building Education First Youth Foyers in Bendigo and Mildura.

As crime skyrockets, the Treasurer needs to secure the safety of residents in the northern suburbs by funding a modern replacement police station for Whittlesea and by establishing a new police station in the Donnybrook–Kalkallo area. The Victorian government must also invest in facilities that enable communities to gather and enjoy themselves, with a new sports and event centre in Shepparton and a new swimming pool for Rochester, which the Treasurer has publicly supported and must now match with real funding.

Finally, the Treasurer must protect the vital horticultural industry in Northern Victoria by funding the Goulburn Murray Valley fruit fly project.