Wednesday, 21 September 2022

 Mr FOWLES (Burwood) (19:43): (6555) It is my absolute delight to be making what I guess is the penultimate contribution in this, the 59th, Parliament in the great state of Victoria. My adjournment matter this evening is directed to the Minister for Transport Infrastructure, the Deputy Premier, and the action that I seek is for the minister to join me in visiting the level crossing removal works at Bedford Road and Dublin Road in Ringwood and Ringwood East. To date the Andrews Labor government has removed 66 dangerous and congested level crossings across the state, and we are well on track to remove 80 ahead of schedule and on budget. The Labor government has already removed some of the state’s worst level crossings, including those at Blackburn Road, Blackburn; Heatherdale Road, Mitcham; and Springvale Road, Nunawading. The Level Crossing Removal Project is part of a broader commitment to transport infrastructure in the east. It is a commitment to transport infrastructure that those opposite seem fixated on cutting, but let us be clear: cuts and closures are their modus operandi, one that Victorians came to know quite well from the last time they were in office. Now, however, in my submission is a ripper time for Victoria to build and build big, not cut and cancel. Now is a time for bold projects and big ideas. Now is a time to set our state on the right path for the next generation, and an Andrews Labor government is ready and willing to deliver big projects that Victorians deserve.

Speaker, you will be annoyed to discover that I am not quite done there. I did want to echo the thanks and the gratitude expressed by the Leader of the House and the Manager of Opposition Business, and I want to convey a sentiment to all those leaving this place, irrespective of their allegiance and irrespective of their party, and to those staff who are departing as well. And it is this:

We’ll meet again

Don’t know where

Don’t know when

But I know we’ll meet again some sunny day

Keep shining through

Just like you always do

’Til the blue skies drive those dark clouds far away

So will you please say hello

To the folks that I know

Tell them I won’t be long

And they’ll be happy to know

That as you saw me go

I was singing this song

We’ll meet again

Don’t know where

Don’t know when

But I know we’ll meet again some sunny day

The SPEAKER: I am pretty confident Hansard cannot record the tune, only the words.