Tuesday, 17 October 2023

 Brad ROWSWELL (Sandringham) (16:47): If this government, the now Allan Labor government, had not wasted more than $30 billion on cost overruns on major projects; if their interest payments were not $15 million a day, climbing to $22 million a day at the end of the forward estimates; and if we were not the highest taxing state in the nation and we did not have the highest debt in the nation – more than Queensland, New South Wales and Tasmania combined – in my community we would be able to afford so much more and provide the infrastructure that my community needs not just for this generation but for the next generation. We would be able to fund local police to keep our community safe and more traffic lights on Bay Road. We would be able to fund local primary and secondary schools – Beaumaris North Primary School, Beaumaris Primary and Sandringham secondary college. We would be able to fund in a greater way Sandringham Hospital, the caring heart of my community. There would be more frequent buses on the 825 route to help those Beaumaris Secondary College students who are crammed into that route 825 bus at school pick-up and drop-off times. We would be able to better protect our environment and our natural resources, including the Ricketts Point Marine Sanctuary, or be able to preserve land at the former Gas and Fuel site on Nepean Highway in Highett and preserve the Sir William Fry Reserve instead of slapping on top and underneath it a suburban rail loop that no-one in my community ever asked for. We would be able to afford rail-under-road options at both the Highett Road and the Wickham Road level crossings, and we would be able to keep Latrobe Street open. We would be able to do so much more in my community if this government did not waste as much.