In my two years since being sworn in as Member for Eastern Victoria, I have loved working for communities across East Gippsland.
November marked 10 years since Victorians chose a Labor Government for Victoria, following four years of chaos under the Liberal Nationals.
Since then, under our two premiers from regional Victoria, we’ve worked hard for and invested heavily in our regional communities.
We’ve invested in health, with the new, better located Paynesville ambulance branch – and new facilities for Orbost paramedics as well.
We’ve refurbished and upgraded the Cann Valley Bush Nursing Centre and Dargo Bush Nursing Centre, improved Gippsland Lakes Complete Health’s Lakes Entrance and Bairnsdale centres, and we’ve added a Mental Health and Wellbeing Local in both Bairnsdale and Orbost, and a Mental Health and Wellbeing Connect centre for Bairnsdale.
We’re building a new $45.3 million new aged care facility at Orbost, with work already beginning.
Far from cutting the budget of our hard working nurses and midwives for their work during COVID, we’re instead delivering them a significant 28.4 per cent pay rise just this year. The Liberal Nationals fought with our nurses and midwives, and a Coalition government would have denied our essential workers this critical pay increase.
Orbost school students from preschool to year 12 now have a hugely upgraded Orbost Community College and there is significant work planned at Lakes Entrance Primary School, including an on-site kindergarten, saving parents another stop on the school run.
Works are already underway at Paynesville Primary School and we’re adding a new kinder at Swifts Creek, ready to go from term one next year.
Our government is providing free Three and Four Year kinder, meaning parents can return to work sooner, and we are working to add more kinder facilities for local children.
The Regional Worker Accommodation Fund is providing housing for 32 healthcare workers in Bairnsdale, and a further five in Omeo.
We’ve also invested $228 million into social housing for the Gippsland community, for 540 homes, and I’m advised that nearly half of those are already complete.
I know how important TAFE is for locals; upskilling jobseekers, and teaching students fresh out of high school.
We brought TAFE back after it was decimated by the Liberals and Nationals. TAFE is the cornerstone of training in Sale, Bairnsdale, Lakes Entrance, and the Morwell campus will work as a clean energy centre – preparing workers for clean energy jobs, including in the massive offshore wind industry.
Thanks to Free TAFE, more than 3,480 students commenced government subsidised training at a TAFE in Gippsland – making up 19 per cent of students at TAFEs in regional Victoria.
Just months ago I was glad to welcome the Sailor’s Grave Dunetown brewery at Marlo and the Lakes Entrance Slipways – and last week the Omeo Mountain Bike Trail also opened.
I’ve been pleased to see businesses like Dahlsens grow who have been supported to build a steel truss and frame plant in Newmerella, in a partnership with Built QA.
We’ve upgraded Bairnsdale City Oval, and Peppercorn Park, along with the WORLD sporting centre opening just last week, supporting local hockey, football, and netball, thanks to a $10 million State Government contribution.
Who can forget the Liberal Nationals closing the Bairnsdale Line, which Labor reopened 20 years ago in 2004.
However, in 2014, visitors and our region’s locals were paying more than $70 just to travel to and from Melbourne – whether that be for tourism, work, or other trips.
In 2022 our government promised to create a fare cap, including on the newly-upgraded Gippsland line, and since introducing it, train passengers have saved more than $100 million.
