Thursday, 1 September 2022

Camberwell Green

Mr KENNEDY (Hawthorn) (17:20): (6535) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Education. The action I seek is for the minister to join me and visit the site which will become a new green and play space for the students at Camberwell Primary School and the local community. Over the last couple of years we have all come to value the benefit of locally available green and open spaces. In inner-city seats like mine we have to make the most of the green and open spaces available to us. That means ensuring open and green spaces can be utilised by different groups in the community, and that is exactly what we plan to do in Camberwell.

The local community around Camberwell Junction and the Camberwell Primary School were delighted to receive $1.76 million in the 2020–21 state budget to turn a car park into a green and play space for the community. The students at Camberwell Primary need the additional play space during school hours, and the community stand to benefit from it after hours. The project is referred to as Camberwell Green by many in the community. As is so often the case, there have been many in the community who have advocated for this outcome. My thanks go to the principal of Camberwell Primary, Janet Gale; the school community; the Camberwell Green steering committee; and the Camberwell Junction Residents Association for their advocacy. However, I have been disappointed with Boroondara council’s reluctance to cooperate with us on a project that clearly has such strong community support. Nonetheless we have pushed on, and we will make sure this project gets done. Planning is already underway, and the conversion of the car park to the green and play space will begin in February 2023.

This is one of many initiatives in Victoria that this government has funded to make the most of shared spaces. In my electorate we have a similar project, where the sporting facilities at Swinburne Senior Secondary College will be upgraded at Fritsch Holzer Park. Again, students will benefit from it during school hours and the community will benefit after hours. I look forward to showing the minister the Camberwell Green site and the plans for this green and play space conversion.