Wednesday, 21 September 2022

 Mr WAKELING (Ferntree Gully) (09:49): As we come to the end of this the 59th Parliament, I am reminded of the challenges that my community have faced over the past four years, particularly the challenges Knox residents faced during lockdown. With the world’s longest lockdown here in Melbourne families in my community were locked down, not allowed to leave their homes, fined if they went to playgrounds and fined if they were out after 9 o’clock at night. Mental health challenges have been rife amongst many people in my community. That is what families in my community have told me.

That is why I stood up in this house and have stood up for them locally on these very important issues. I have stood up for local residents when it comes to getting better infrastructure, whether it is at Fairhills High School or Wantirna College or getting traffic lights at McMahons Road—it took eight years to convince this government that they needed to invest money in my local community. But there were so many other areas where this government has failed to invest any money, and that is why I have continued to advocate for my community. That is why we are going to commit to finally putting in place the tram extension—doing the study—to bring it down from Vermont South, something that Labor promised 23 years ago and has failed to do. That is why we are going to invest in upgrading Templeton Primary School and Kent Park Primary School and fixing our health system. That is what I am doing, standing up for Knox community, and I look forward to representing this community in the next Parliament.