Tuesday, 3 October 2023

Ministers statements: medical research

Ben CARROLL (Niddrie – Minister for Education, Minister for Medical Research) (14:22): It is my honour to stand here today as the new Minister for Medical Research and Minister for Education in the Allan Labor government. Before I begin, I do want to acknowledge the great work of my predecessors. We all know Lynne Kosky was a trailblazer after the Kennett government cuts, who rebuilt education and made it for everyone, no matter their background. James Merlino reversed the $1 billion worth of cuts that those opposite instituted. We restored the school breakfast program – 500 school breakfasts, 500 schools, 1000 by the end of this year. And Minister Hutchins, the new Minister for Jobs and Industry, oversaw our best NAPLAN results to date, and that is a testament to her hard work supporting teachers, schools and communities.

I am very proud to work alongside the Minister for Health on what we are doing as well at Parkville. I was at Parkville on the weekend supporting the girls’ and women’s football club. That new housing and biomedical precinct is literally going to change lives and save lives. Everyone knows that the Nobel prize was awarded last night to professors that worked on the mRNA vaccine. And yes, you want to know they are real professors and they do have PhDs. I do not know how many properties they own, but they were on the mark. With the member for Oakleigh, just last week I was out at the mRNA Moderna facility in Monash, and we are building that. It is a testament to the Allan and Andrews governments that the only such project in the Southern Hemisphere, a full mRNA manufacturing facility, is being built right here. From Monash to Parkville, you will be able to get to wherever you need on the Suburban Rail Loop. You will also be able, thanks to the Premier, to get off at a train station to get to the mRNA or the new biomedical precinct that the Minister for Precincts is going to really drive and invest in. Who knows, maybe the next Nobel laureate will come out of the work we are doing in medical precincts and the work we are doing right here in medical research in Victoria under the Allan–Andrews governments.