Tuesday, 22 March 2022

Mordialloc electorate emergency services

Mr RICHARDSON (Mordialloc) (12:42): It was wonderful to recently join the fantastic volunteers at the Edithvale CFA for their annual fun run—a fantastic community event. More than 511 participants took to the running tracks of the City of Kingston, with the 15-kilometre, 10-kilometre and 5-kilometre runs and a 5-kilometre walk. I will place on record that the federal member for Isaacs, Mark Dreyfus, once again beat me in the 5-kilometre run, because I took to the walk. Just a bit of hamstring tightness kept me on the bench this time. But it is a wonderful event, and I wanted to place on the record my sincere appreciation to Captain Graham Fountain and his incredible team of volunteers. It grows each and every year, and it is an example of the support that our community has for our emergency services.

It is matched by the Andrews Labor government’s support for our emergency services, with record investment locally, whether it is the Edithvale CFA station redevelopment, which was a $3.35 million upgrade; the Mentone Life Saving Club that is coming out of the ground now with a second storey underway at Mentone, which supports the more than 1400 members at that wonderful club; or the Aspendale Life Saving Club, where the slab has been poured, and it is coming out of the ground to support our community into the future; the Edithvale Life Saving Club, which is built and servicing our volunteers, and we have seen a huge upsurge in members; or the Chelsea SES’s new building and premises that is underway with the retrofitting of their premises. When it comes to emergency services, our community supports our volunteers, and the Andrews Labor government supports our volunteers too.