Wednesday, 21 September 2022

 Ms ADDISON (Wendouree) (19:29): (6549) My adjournment matter is for the Treasurer, and the action I seek is for him to update me on how significant investment made by the Andrews Labor government in Ballarat between 2018 and 2022 has created jobs and supported the local economy.

I am proudly Ballarat born and bred, and I love my community. It is such an honour to represent the electorate of Wendouree, where I spent my childhood and worked as a schoolteacher and where my husband and I choose to raise our daughters, Johanna and Sophia, who are with us in the gallery tonight. By building the projects that matter to my community, our government is making Ballarat an even better place to work and live. We are investing in the health of our community with the $541 million redevelopment of the Ballarat Base Hospital, which will deliver a new emergency department, a women’s and children’s hub, a state-of-the-art theatre suite and an extra 100 inpatient short-stay beds.

We are supporting local manufacturing by building Victorian trains at Alstom in my electorate. This $986 million investment will deliver a new fleet of 25 X’Trapolis 2.0 trains and create hundreds of jobs in manufacturing and the supply chain, with many of those jobs being in my community.

I was able to visit the award-winning $6.5 million Delacombe Primary School gym at various stages throughout its construction. Not only were the builders local and the concreter local but both a parent with children at the school and a former student were working on site.

Ballarat’s population continues to grow as more people choose to make the best part of Victoria home. As a part of our Keeping Ballarat Moving initiative we are upgrading several of our busiest intersections across the city to keep traffic flowing and make sure that people get home safely.

The Andrews Labor government understands the benefits of grassroots sport and the way it supports the health and wellbeing and social cohesion of our community. The $3.7 million investment in the Alfredton Recreation Reserve has transformed the reserve with new amenities, female-friendly change rooms, a fit-for-purpose kitchen and kiosk, cricket nets, scoreboards and new toilets. The fantastic new facilities at Alfredton now open more opportunities for participation, particularly for women and girls. It is not only community sport that is receiving record investment, with both Mars and Selkirk stadiums receiving transformative upgrades to attract professional sports and events from around the country.

I thank the Treasurer for his support of Ballarat, and I look forward to him updating me on how the significant investments across my electorate have created jobs and supported the local economy.