Tuesday, 16 May 2023

 Nathan LAMBERT (Preston) (13:34): I hope the member for Monbulk’s daughter is okay. I rise to update the house regarding a community meeting that was held on Friday to discuss the future of Preston Market. The event was held in the Preston shire hall and was very well attended, with hundreds of people packed into the hall and others turned away for safety reasons. There were a lot of great contributions throughout the evening, but I would like to particularly note the contribution of George Kanjere, who MCed the event very well and who has been a key community leader in the campaign. Bonnie Gordon and Chris Erlandsen provided a lot of the technical detail. I would also like to mention Con Lambros, who has been another key community leader in that campaign, and Jenny Hibbert and Laura Fazio, who have gathered more than 12,000 signatures on a petition that we hope to table in this place at some point. I will not try and recap the entire meeting now, but it was clear that the Minister for Planning’s announcement last month has been very well received and also clear that there does remain significant concern and apprehension. Certainly there was a lot of interest and input from the community into what kind of state government or local government decisions – or indeed decisions by the owners – might ensure that the market remains at the heart of the precinct and at the heart of Preston for a long time to come.