Tuesday, 1 August 2023

Commonwealth Games

Wayne FARNHAM (Narracan) (16:46): Everyone in this chamber knows I love to talk about my community of Narracan, and today I talk about the disappointment my community of Narracan has after the disgraceful decision by the government to cancel the Commonwealth Games. So much in that budget affected regional Victoria, and the one thing they were looking forward to was the Commonwealth Games. My community had the timber industry ripped out of it – so did those of the members for Morwell, Gippsland South and Gippsland East. The one bright hope we had was the Commonwealth Games, and this government has managed to destroy that hope as well.

It is an absolutely shameful decision – shameful. It would have benefited my community. It would have benefited towns like Erica, Rawson, Walhalla, Noojee and Powelltown. Those regional towns have been so affected by the timber industry that that could have equated to tourism for them, to boost their economies. But this government does not care about regional Victoria; they dump on regional Victoria every opportunity they get. And the only bright light in all of this is what this government has managed to do for the member for Morwell after taking away EV, the SEC, Hazelwood and APM Maryvale as well. What they have done is given this bloke a 20-year career, because I can tell you now there is not a person in Morwell that will vote Labor again.